Has the gig economy peaked?

The recent decline in gig workers is driven by lower demand for deliveries and a rotation into traditional labor markets.

Headshot of Anna Zhou

Anna Zhou

Headshot of Taylor Bowley

Taylor Bowley

April 2023

Key takeaways

  • After a threefold rise during the pandemic, the share of Bank of America customers that received gig-type income through direct deposits or debit cards slipped to 2.7% in February 2023, from a high of 3.3% in March 2022. Is the peak of the gig economy now behind us?
  • In our view, the recent decline partly reflects lower demand. Specifically, fewer restaurant takeout orders and grocery deliveries as the economy has reopened, and a shift from goods to services spending could mean less gig work at delivery and social commerce marketplace platforms.
  • Lower supply could also explain the decline - gig workers are more likely to work in retail and restaurants, and strong wage growth in these two sectors might have lured some of them back to more traditional jobs. In fact, we think this rotation from gig work to traditional jobs could partly explain the recent increase in the labor force participation rate for younger workers.

Read our full analysis for a more in-depth look at these trends.