But it's not like people are necessarily worse off by choosing to drive for Uber. The thing is that for a lot of drivers, Uber is complementary income on top of a primary, inflexible income source. AFAIK, there's nothing else other than gig economy that lets someone supplement income piecemeal.
If you think in terms of socio-economic mobility, isn't the ability to squeeze extra earning opportunities in between other responsibilities a good thing?
Also, Uber has shown that it isn't 100% effective at "exploiting" its market. Last year, a lot of drivers were taking home 6 digit gross income due to driver shortages and the ability to opt into stupidly long work weeks. That's pretty significant for what is effectively a unskilled job.
> But it's not like people are necessarily worse off by choosing to drive for Uber.
I'm reminded of the video of the Uber driver confronting Kalanick during a ride because the driver had been encouraged to buy a high end car by Uber in order to participate in Uber Black[0]. After he bought the car, Uber started lowering the rates on Uber Black, which resulted in less income for the drivers.
That guy sounded like he was worse off by choosing to drive for Uber and taking their own advice.
I mean, the whole premise of gig economy is you need to do your homework because you're an independent contractor. A lot of drivers on YouTube will tell you that you have work smart, do your own math, etc.
Obviously the Kalanick incident made news because of how viral the scenario was, but the reality is that there's a lot of variability and for every person complaining that more drivers on the road equate less per-driver demand, there's another five drivers quietly making extra cash after their day jobs.
> Last year, a lot of drivers were taking home 6 digit gross income due to driver shortages. That's pretty significant for what is effectively a unskilled job.
Source needed. Might just as well be a publicity stunt by Uber.
One source is just an acquaintance of mine. A couple of others are people on youtube. Mind you, the caveat is these people worked 50+ hours per week. If you want something that looks less anecdotal, google "uber salary". Glassdoor lists a range from 18k-93k/yr.
It's gross income, so no. For my acquaintance it was still better net income than the job he had been laid off from (we're talking a difference of more than 2x), the trade-off is that the income boost comes from opting into putting long hours. He was able to use the extra income to pay off some debt, FWIW.
If you're interested, some of the YouTube videos go into the earnings breakdown and take home amount after setting aside a maintenance fund.
If you think in terms of socio-economic mobility, isn't the ability to squeeze extra earning opportunities in between other responsibilities a good thing?
Also, Uber has shown that it isn't 100% effective at "exploiting" its market. Last year, a lot of drivers were taking home 6 digit gross income due to driver shortages and the ability to opt into stupidly long work weeks. That's pretty significant for what is effectively a unskilled job.