The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, estimates that Uber drivers earn the equivalent of $9.21 per hour after factoring in Uber’s fees plus drivers’ vehicle and other expenses. Other studies suggest they earn more. Gridwise, a software company that helps drivers maximize their earnings across ride-hail apps, estimates Uber drivers earn $18.65 hourly before expenses.
CBS News
May 10, 2019
A report last year from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found Uber driver pay averages only $9.21 an hour after deductions for Uber fees, vehicle expenses, payroll taxes, and the cost of a “modest benefits package.” Although the report was published in 2018, the information is “relatively the same,” Lawrence Mishel, the author of the report and a distinguished fellow at EPI, told Yahoo Finance.
Yahoo Finance
May 10, 2019
A 2018 study by the Economic Policy Institute estimated that Uber drivers made less than $11 an hour after company fees, vehicle expenses, and self-employment taxes—below the minimum wage in nine of 20 major markets, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. While most drivers were part-time or quit after a short period, it added, there was “a core group who are full-time and year-round workers who provide a large share of the services.”
LaborPress.org
May 10, 2019
Ride-hailing service drivers have long complained of low wages and lack of benefits. A paper released Tuesday by the Economic Policy Institute found that Uber drivers earn the equivalent of $9.21 in hourly wages after factoring in the company’s commissions, fees, and vehicle expenses and accounting for the cost of health insurance and other expenses.
ConsumerAffairs
May 10, 2019
“It’s become a lot more dangerous to strike in the last 30 years,” said Lawrence Mishel, a labor-market economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. The decline in labor-union membership has also been a “major factor,” he said. In 2018, 10.5% of workers were in unions, down from 20.1% in 1983, the first year for which comparable data was available.
MarketWatch
May 10, 2019
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average Uber driver earns just above nine dollars an hour.
ABC Columbia
May 10, 2019
“Getting profitable by squeezing down costs is going to create even further problems, with the high turnover rate with drivers and challenge the new drivers so they can expand,” said Larry Mishel, distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “There are huge contradictions at the heart of their business model.” Last year, Mishel worked on a study of Uber drivers and concluded that their W-2 equivalent hourly wage is less than what 90% of U.S. workers earn. “Our results indicate that Uber drivers earn low wages and compensation and the total hours and compensation in the gig economy represent a very small share of total hours and compensation in the overall economy,” Mishel’s study said.
MarketWatch
May 10, 2019
An estimated hundred thousand people serve as drivers for ridesharing apps in Los Angeles. Airports, where fifteen per cent of Uber bookings start or end, are one of a few places where the diffuse network of freelance drivers converges. For Rideshare Drivers United, a driver-advocacy group that was established in Los Angeles last year, airports were an obvious place at which to protest Uber’s initial public offering—the company is expected to début on the New York Stock Exchange at a valuation of between eighty and ninety billion dollars. According to a 2018 study by the Economic Policy Institute, the average rideshare driver makes $11.77 an hour after expenses and fees, less than the average compensation for retail workers. Dara Khosrowshahi, the C.E.O. of Uber, earned forty-five million dollars in executive compensation last year. On Wednesday, drivers turned off their apps and picketed in ten cities across the country. In Los Angeles, the call to turn off the services began at midnight on Wednesday and lasted for the next twenty-four hours.
The New Yorker
May 10, 2019
Each city’s drivers coalesced around their own particular demands, although drivers across the country were demanding more livable incomes, job security, and better treatment. A study by the executive director of Stanford’s Center for Automotive Research found that more than half of Uber and Lyft drivers earn less than the minimum wage in their state. Median profit is just $8.55 an hour, and when vehicle expenses are taken into account, 8 percent of drivers actually lose money. A different study from the Economic Policy Institute found that drivers make $11.77 an hour on average, and that just a third of what passengers pay goes to drivers.
VOX
May 10, 2019
The actual wages of drivers vary, according to analyses. The Economic Policy Institute recently estimated that Uber drivers earn roughly $9.21 each hour, after taking commissions, vehicle fees, and health insurance expenses into account. A similar study by NerdWallet found that Lyft drivers make an average hourly rate of $11.77.
Real Clear Politics
May 10, 2019