Gig worker pay on delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash fell up to 15% last year

Gig workers made less money on apps like Instacart and Uber Eats last year, a new study shows. REuters

• Delivery gig workers made less money on Instacart, Uber Eats, and other apps in 2023, a new study found.
• Some worked fewer hours, but their earnings fell faster, Gridwise Analytics found.
• Gig work has become more competitive, and many gigs pay less than they used to, contractors told BI.

Delivering for Uber Eats and DoorDash as a gig worker got less lucrative last year, according to a new study.

Uber Eats drivers saw the biggest decline in gross earnings at 15.4%, according to a study from Gridwise Analytics, which gathers data on earnings for about half a million gig workers.

Uber Eats workers made $472.72 a month on average last year.

“In the past year, there has been a marked decrease in the monthly average gross earnings of drivers,” a summary of Gridwise’s findings on wages reads.

Instacart shoppers earned 8.3% less, with average monthly earnings of $606.50, while DoorDash workers saw their earnings slip just 0.1% to $703.17, though they worked 3.2% more hours on average.

Grubhub workers saw their earnings increase 6% during the year, though they had to work 13.6% more hours.

Rideshare drivers for Uber took the biggest pay hit at 17.1%, though they still earned more on average each month than gig workers on other apps ($1,409.71).

Only Lyft drivers earned more than 2022 (2.5%) while working fewer hours (12.9%).

In a statement to Business Insider, a DoorDash spokesperson called the monthly earnings statistic “a pretty flawed way to look at how Dashers earn” since “their time on the app can vary month to month and even week to week.”

And Uber Eats spokesperson said the report “relies on a fraction of drivers and couriers across the country and doesn’t accurately reflect the facts.”

Meanwhile, an Instacart spokesperson told BI: “This report is not inclusive of data from the full shopper population, and cannot be fully representative of earnings across the Instacart platform.”

A Grubhub spokesperson responded to the report, saying: “We support higher pay for our delivery partners and are pleased that they’re earning more.”

The other companies mentioned in the report didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Gig workers for a variety of delivery services have told BI that making money has gotten harder, especially compared to the early-pandemic demand for delivery in 2020.

Competition among gig workers is part of the issue, they say, with more people signing up for the apps.

In other cases, companies have cut pay. Last summer, Instacart slashed its minimum base pay for shoppers to $4 from its previous $7, for example.

While many gig workers deliver food or drive people to the airport as a side hustle, those who work for the apps as their main source of income have been particularly hard-hit by the cuts. Some have even started looking for traditional 9-to-5 jobs.

Do you work for Instacart, DoorDash, or another gig work app and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected]