So, let’s look really carefully (ok, as much as someone on the outside can) at one of these 1099 economy ‘successes’.  Uber.   Where drivers can make up to $ 30 an hour (for the hours they work) in Manhattan or $ 17 in DC.   (Believe it or not, that DC rate is about what drivers make in LA, too.)

Those numbers sound grand to those who can only make minimum wage plus a drip at McDonalds or Burger King.  Until they realize they have gas, service, insurance- and car payments- to cover from these earnings.  Oh, and employer taxes- not just the 7.65% paid by employees, but, now since THEY are their own employer, the employer portion, too.  (Yes, that makes the tax bite 15.3%.  There are offsets, but…)

There’s more.  As opposed to many of my clients who drive their own cabs (and a few who own small taxi companies), about ½ the Uber folks have a college degree.   (That’s about 2.5 times the degree prevalence for chauffeurs or taxi drivers across the US.)

And, as far as I can tell from the report, a whole bunch of Uber folks only work once or twice a month- or maybe only a few times and leave the fold.  Uber has some 160K+ who are active drivers (that means they have provided four or more trips for the service.) (I should tell you now that much of this data comes from a marketing report Uber developed to ‘sell’ the viability of their service to the elected officials across the US. It was authored by Drs. Jonathan Hall [Uber] and Alan Krueger [Princeton].)

There is an even split among the Uber drivers.  About 1/3 (38%) work solely as independent contractors for Uber.  31% use this to supplement the wages of another full-time job they have.   (There is no data on the actual full time job they hold- or the wages they make from that position.) The rest of the drivers (30%) are part time workers elsewhere and also ‘work’ part time for Uber.

It should also be noted that ½ of Uber drivers are covered by insurance from their other job- or from their spouse’s job.   About half the Uber drivers work 15 hours or less a week, with 86% working less than 35 hours a week.  And, there is a caste system of sorts- UberBlack, which is the limousine version of the service, where the drivers have professional vehicles and make more money, and the rest of the pack, who use their own (r upgraded) personal vehicles.

Which brings up the next question.  Are folks Uber drivers because they want the flexibility it claims to offer- or can they not find more permanent, stable positions that pay reasonable wages and are forced into this choice?  And, that’s a more critical consideration, given that Uber has been cutting fares to customers to grow the business- which, therefore, means Uber is cutting the overall ‘take’ the drivers can get.

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