Understanding the Online Platform Based “Gig” Workforce in the US: Evidence from the Entrepreneurship in the Population Survey

The rise of digital platform technologies raised concerns, given their potential to fundamentally alter labor market arrangements by increasing the share of workers employed in the “gig economy.” This paper uses data from a new nationally representative survey, the Entrepreneurship in the Population Survey, to examine these work arrangements, focusing on work coordinated through an online platform. We estimate that roughly 1.6 percent of adults perform online platform work as a primary job, with an additional 2.8 percent performing online platform work periodically over the past 6 months. We then document the demographic characteristics of these workers and explore the motivations of workers engaged in online platform work.