Read our full analysis for a more in-depth look at these trends.
Gig work back in favor as wages slide
Moderating wage growth has led to a small uptick in gig work, particularly driven by ridesharing and younger generations.
October 2023
Key takeaways
- Moderating wage growth has led to a small uptick in gig job participation over the past few months. Specifically, the percentage of Bank of America customers who received income from gig platforms through direct deposits or debit cards reached 3% in August 2023, up from 2.7% in April.
- This increase was driven particularly by ridesharing jobs and younger people, the former of which can be largely explained by strong travel-related spending. We also found that ridesharing gig workers do not tend to also have a traditional job and an increased supply of these workers has driven average monthly ridesharing gig pay down in recent months.
- Millennials and Gen Z have seen the biggest increase in gig work as they tend to be more exposed to the rising cost of living. But it seems gig work may not provide enough support: younger generations' credit and debit card spending growth has consistently lagged that of Baby Boomers since mid-March, according to Bank of America internal data.