A new national survey of gig workers in the United States finds that around one in seven make less than the federal minimum wage. Some 30 percent rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and cannot pay the full amount of their utility bills. On a range of measures, gig workers report greater economic hardship than W-2 employees in low-wage retail and food-service work.

A report on the survey was published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), with the survey itself conducted by the Shift Project, which is a joint project at Harvard Kennedy School and the University of California, San Francisco. In the spring of 2020, the Shift Project elicited responses via Facebook and Instagram advertisements, targeting gig workers at the likes of DoorDash, Instacart, Lyft, and Uber, as well as W-2 employees at fifty-eight large retail and food-service companies including Arby’s, Chick-fil-A, Home Depot, Kroger/QFC, McDonald’s, Publix, Starbucks, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart. The surveys included questions about demographics, job characteristics, and economic security issues, with respondents comprising 288 gig workers and 4,201 service-sector workers.

While so-called gig companies tout the advantages of flexible labor arrangements that classify their workforce as independent contractors rather than employees, the survey shows that this workforce suffered significantly greater economic hardship than their W-2 counterparts in low-wage service-sector work. Deprived of labor standards that come with employee status, such as wage and hour protections, antidiscrimination laws, workers’ compensation, health and safety protections, unemployment benefits, and the right to organize and collectively bargain, many gig workers are unable to make ends meet.