Yes, there's a wage gap for Uber and Lyft drivers based on age, gender and race

The gig economy hasn't ditched the wage gap.
 By 
Emma Hinchliffe
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Just like the rest of the American workforce, drivers for Uber and Lyft suffer from a wage gap.

The inequity in hourly earnings appears for drivers by gender, race and age, according to a survey from The Rideshare Guy of 1,150 drivers on an email list of 30,000.

We've seen the gig economy wage gap before. A study in 2015 found that older drivers earned about 20 percent less per hour than their younger counterparts. A study in November found that black gig workers on services like TaskRabbit received more negative reviews, and women gig workers were more likely not to be reviewed at all.

The Rideshare Guy's non-scientific survey is a bit more informal than some past research, but it found results similar to those determined by past research.

Women drivers reported earning an average of $14.26 per hour, compared to $16.61 for men.

Black Uber and Lyft drivers earned $13.96 an hour compared to the $16.08 average for all other drivers.

And drivers over 61 years old earned $3 less per hour than drivers between ages 18 and 30. More than half of survey respondents said they were over 51 years old.

Besides income disparity, the Rideshare survey found a few other interesting conclusions.

About half of drivers were satisfied with their experience driving for Uber, but only 13 percent said the same about driving for UberPool.

And although 75 percent of respondents said they primarily drive for Uber, the ones who drive for Lyft report higher pay and are more satisfied with their driving experience.

Topics Uber lyft

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Emma Hinchliffe

Emma Hinchliffe is a business reporter at Mashable. Before joining Mashable, she covered business and metro news at the Houston Chronicle.

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