Gig worker pay – The daily blog of behavioral and cognitive economics

The Downside of a Gig Worker Pay Boost

When New York City and Seattle mandated higher gig worker pay for food delivery couriers they wound up with unintended consequences. During September 2023, in New York City, DoorDash, Uber Eats and others like them were told to pay their delivery gig workers close to 50 cents a minute. The result? Average pay took a whopper of a leap from $7.09 to $17.96 an hour. And, as you might expect, the companies and consumers responded. Because its costs were up, Uber implemented two supply side changes. It said that it could save money by grouping drivers into delivery slots. ….[READ}