Uber, the ride-sharing company launched in 2010, has grown at an exponential rate. Using both survey and administrative data, the authors provide the first comprehensive analysis of the labor market for Uber’s driver-partners. Drivers appear to be attracted to the Uber platform largely because of the flexibility it offers, the level of compensation, and the fact that earnings per hour do not vary much based on the number of hours worked. Uber’s driver-partners are more similar in terms of their age and education to the general workforce than to taxi drivers and chauffeurs. Most of Uber’s driver-partners had full- or part-time employment before joining Uber, and many continue in those positions after starting to drive with the Uber platform, which makes the flexibility to set their own hours especially valuable. Drivers often cite the desire to smooth fluctuations in their income as one of their reasons for partnering with Uber.
BernhardtAnnette. 2014. Labor standards and the reorganization of work: Gaps in data and research. UC Berkeley: Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, January. Accessed at http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/workingpapers/100-14.pdf (January12, 2015).
2.
[BLS] Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2005. Contingent and alternative employment arrangements, February2005. July27. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor.
3.
[BLS] Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2014. Occupational employment and wages, May2013, 53-3041Taxi drivers and chauffeurs. April1. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor. Accessed at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes533041.htm (January10, 2015).
4.
[BSG] Benenson Survey Group. 2014. The driver roadmap. Internal survey of Uber driver-partners. December. Accessed at http://www.bsgco.com/uber (January2016).
CabralLuísHortaçsuAli. 2010. The dynamics of seller reputation: Theory and evidence from eBay. Journal of Industrial Economics58(1): 54–78.
7.
CohanySharon R.1996. Workers in alternative employment arrangements. Monthly Labor Review119(10): 31–45.
8.
FallickBruceFleischmanCharles A.2004. Employer-to-employer flows in the U.S. labor market: The complete picture of gross worker flows. Finance and Economics Discussion Series (FEDS) Working Paper 2004-34. Washington, DC: Federal Reserve Board.
GreenwoodBrad N.WattalSunil. 2015. Show me the way to go home: An empirical investigation of ride sharing and alcohol related motor vehicle homicide. Fox School of Business Research Paper No. 15-054. Accessed at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2557612 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2557612 (January2017).
12.
HarrisSethKruegerAlan. 2015. A proposal for modernizing labor laws for twenty-first-century work: The “independent worker.” The Hamilton Project, Discussion Paper 2015-10. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
13.
HsiehChang-TaiMorettiEnrico. 2003. Can free entry be inefficient? Fixed commissions and social waste in the real estate industry. Journal of Political Economy11(5): 1076–122.
