IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausecr/v55y2022i2p177-194.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Labour Market for Uber Drivers in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Oliver Alexander
  • Jeff Borland
  • Andrew Charlton
  • Amit Singh

Abstract

We describe the labour market for Uber drivers, the first detailed study of a gig economy market in Australia. Uber drivers' characteristics, reasons for driving with Uber, hours of work and driving schedules, earnings and job satisfaction are analysed, using both administrative and survey data. Uber drivers have diverse pathways to the job, with the objective to earn supplemental income most important in Australia. Total hours and timing of work differ substantially between drivers. Drivers express high satisfaction regarding job flexibility but lower satisfaction about pay. Hours worked and job satisfaction depend importantly on a driver's pathway to the job.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliver Alexander & Jeff Borland & Andrew Charlton & Amit Singh, 2022. "The Labour Market for Uber Drivers in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 55(2), pages 177-194, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:55:y:2022:i:2:p:177-194
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8462.12454
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8462.12454
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8462.12454?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. M. Keith Chen & Judith A. Chevalier & Peter E. Rossi & Emily Oehlsen, 2019. "The Value of Flexible Work: Evidence from Uber Drivers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(6), pages 2735-2794.
    2. Berger, Thor & Chen, Chinchih & Frey, Carl Benedikt, 2018. "Drivers of disruption? Estimating the Uber effect," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 197-210.
    3. Alexandre Mas & Amanda Pallais, 2017. "Valuing Alternative Work Arrangements," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(12), pages 3722-3759, December.
    4. Inga Laß & Mark Wooden, 2019. "The Structure of the Wage Gap for Temporary Workers: Evidence from Australian Panel Data," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 453-478, September.
    5. Cody Cook & Rebecca Diamond & Jonathan V Hall & John A List & Paul Oyer, 2021. "The Gender Earnings Gap in the Gig Economy: Evidence from over a Million Rideshare Drivers [Measuring the Gig Economy: Current Knowledge and Open Issues]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(5), pages 2210-2238.
    6. Janine Berg & Hannah Johnston, 2019. "Too Good to Be True? A Comment on Hall and Krueger’s Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber’s Driver-Partners," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(1), pages 39-68, January.
    7. Dmitri K. Koustas, 2019. "What Do Big Data Tell Us about Why People Take Gig Economy Jobs?," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 367-371, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oliver Alexander & Jeff Borland & Andrew Charlton & Amit Singh, 2021. "Uber down under: The labour market for drivers in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2021n18, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    2. Peter Blair & Benjamin Posmanick, 2023. "Why Did Gender Wage Convergence in the United States Stall?," Working Papers 2023-001, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    3. Adermon, Adrian & Hensvik, Lena, 2022. "Gig-jobs: Stepping stones or dead ends?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Rakesh Banerjee & Tushar Bharati & Adnan Fakir & Yiwei Qian, 2025. "Gender Differences in Preferences for Flexible Work Hours: Experimental Evidence from an Online Freelancing Platform," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 25-09, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    5. Ni Huang & Gordon Burtch & Yili Hong & Paul A. Pavlou, 2020. "Unemployment and Worker Participation in the Gig Economy: Evidence from an Online Labor Market," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 431-448, June.
    6. Paul Oyer, 2020. "The gig economy," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 471-471, January.
    7. John M. Barrios & Yael Hochberg & Hanyi Yi, 2020. "The Cost of Convenience: Ridehailing and Traffic Fatalities," NBER Working Papers 26783, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Bäckman, Claes & Hanspal, Tobin, 2018. "Participation and Losses in Multi-Level Marketing: Evidence from an FTC Settlement," Working Papers 2018:13, Lund University, Department of Economics, revised 22 Aug 2019.
    9. Banerjee, Rakesh & Bharati, Tushar & Fakir, Adnan & Qian, Yiwei & Sunder, Naveen, 2024. "Gender Differences in Preferences for Flexible Work Hours: Experimental Evidence from an Online Freelancing Platform," IZA Discussion Papers 17434, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Cody Cook & Rebecca Diamond & Jonathan V Hall & John A List & Paul Oyer, 2021. "The Gender Earnings Gap in the Gig Economy: Evidence from over a Million Rideshare Drivers [Measuring the Gig Economy: Current Knowledge and Open Issues]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(5), pages 2210-2238.
    11. Yiwei Qian & Naveen Sunder & Adnan M. S. Fakir & Rakesh Banerjee & Tushar Bharati, 2023. "Gender Differences in Preference for Non-pecuniary Benefits in the Labour Market. Experimental Evidence from an Online Freelancing Platform," Working Paper Series 0723, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    12. Joshua D. Gottlieb & Avi Zenilman, 2020. "When Workers Travel: Nursing Supply During COVID-19 Surges," NBER Working Papers 28240, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Chen Liang & Yili Hong & Bin Gu & Jing Peng, 2018. "Gender Wage Gap in Online Gig Economy and Gender Differences in Job Preferences," Working Papers 18-03, NET Institute.
    14. Lochner, Benjamin & Merkl, Christian, 2022. "Gender-specific application behavior, matching, and the residual gender earnings gap," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 04/2022, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    15. David P. Baron, 2018. "Disruptive Entrepreneurship and Dual Purpose Strategies: The Case of Uber," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(2), pages 439-462, June.
    16. Cosaert, Sam & Nieto Castro, Adrian & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos, 2023. "Temperature and the Timing of Work," IZA Discussion Papers 16480, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Jason Sockin, 2022. "Show Me the Amenity: Are Higher-Paying Firms Better All Around?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9842, CESifo.
    18. Bensnes, Simon & Hernaes, Øystein & King, Max-Emil M., 2025. "No Payoff from Time Off? Mandated Paid Vacation and Late-Career Employment," IZA Discussion Papers 18121, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Cai, Huan & Dong, Lu & Xie, Jian, 2025. "The Digital Second Shift: Gender Gap in Parenting App Usage in China," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 765, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    20. di Porto, Edoardo & Garibaldi, Pietro & Mastrobuoni, Giovanni & Naticchioni, Paolo, 2022. "The Perverse Effect of Flexible Work Arrangements on Informality," IZA Discussion Papers 15794, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:55:y:2022:i:2:p:177-194. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mimelau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.