Who Are Gig Workers? Insights from Indonesia

Overview 

For many urban Indonesians, the digital gig economy has become an integral part of daily life since its rapid expansion in 2015. Commuters call ride-hailing services via smartphone apps to connect to public transit on their way to work. When ordering food for an office gathering, they once again rely on app-based gig platforms for food delivery services. Recent estimates suggest that between 430,000 and 2.3 million of Indonesia’s workforce participates in the gig economy, engaging in short-term, task-based jobs through digital platforms (Permana et al. 2023).

Notwithstanding this rapid growth, many fundamental questions remain about the characteristics, economic conditions, and experiences of gig workers: Who are they? What drives them to enter the gig economy? How much do they earn? To what extent can they access financial products that support their livelihoods?

To explore these questions, the IDinsight team in Indonesia conducted a descriptive study as part of the Digital Economy Research Impact Initiative (DERII), supported by the Gates Foundation. We partnered with an app-based gig platform in Indonesia to study motorcycle ride-hailing and delivery drivers. Our research included phone surveys with 3,006 active drivers—primarily in urban areas—196 inactive drivers who had not completed any gig orders in the past year, 14 follow-up qualitative interviews with active female platform drivers, and 300 traditional motorcycle taxi drivers (referred to as offline drivers).

This blog post summarizes our key findings and insights. The main report, companion report, and supplementary qualitative findings are available on our DERII project page.

Key Findings 

Demographics and Background 

Our study found that the vast majority of active platform drivers are men, with an average age of 38 years. Platform work is not their first job: before joining the platform, 58% of drivers were employed full-time in the formal sector, 14% worked in informal jobs, and about 11% ran their own businesses. There are significant gender differences: female drivers are less likely to be married, less likely to be employed full-time prior to starting platform work (and more likely to have been unemployed). 

With relatively low entry barriers, platform work serves as an accessible employment option. Indonesia’s population has a high rate of motorcycle ownership, with around 125 million registered motorcycles and smartphones are accessible—73.5% of the urban population has access to a cellular mobile phone (BPS 2022); 66% of Indonesians use the Internet; bank account ownership was about at 52% among urban Indonesians in 2021 (Findex 2021). While motorcycle and mobile phone ownership is widespread in Indonesia, these assets remain out of reach for the poorest households, hindering their participation in gig work. This is substantiated by our research findings, where the surveyed drivers already owned a smartphone and motorcycle, and 83% had a bank account. 

Drivers, on average, have roughly similar educational attainment to the Indonesian labor force: 69% hold a high school diploma, and 12% have post-secondary education, compared to 32% and 12% in the general workforce, respectively, while 54% of workers have only a junior high school education or lower (BPS 2024). Female drivers are more educated than male drivers with a greater proportion of female drivers holding diplomas or bachelor’s degree, potentially suggesting lower availability of professional careers for women or high preferences for flexible work arrangements that platform gig economy offers. 

Flexibility is the primary motivation for choosing platform work (especially for women), with half of the drivers citing flexible scheduling as their main reason for choosing this work. Economic reasons, such as the need for supplementary income or having been laid off or leaving their previous job, account for 38% and 30% of the key motivators for drivers to join platform work, respectively. 

Labor Supply

On average, drivers report having 1.6 sources of income—some even manage up to five. This suggests that many drivers do not rely on gig work as their sole source of income and frequently hold multiple jobs. Approximately 23% of drivers have another part-time job; 12% engage in multi-homing (working for more than one driving platform), and 10% are entrepreneurs. Drivers average about 76.8 hours per week on the job, dedicating 91% of this time to platform-related work. The distribution of working hours from the last working day indicates that roughly 50% of full-time drivers work more than 12-hour days, with some approaching nearly continuous shifts.

Earnings 

A key policy question surrounding platform gig work is whether drivers who heavily rely on platform earn enough to sustain their livelihoods and how the earnings compare to other jobs available to this demographic. Compared to available data from Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik), drivers’ net earnings are similar to other low-barrier informal sector jobs, such as casual (IDR 2,515,000/USD 153.7), however, lower than income from self-employment among individuals with a high-school diploma or above  (IDR 4,097,600/USD 250.5). About 16% of drivers report not being able to meet basic household expenses, while 47% report saving, suggesting that while some are facing economic hardships, a substantial fraction are able to contribute to building their own financial cushion.

Gender Disparities

Significant gender gaps exist in platform work. When it comes to earnings, male drivers earn 9% more in gross hourly income and 31% more in net hourly income than female drivers. The income gap in gross income between male and female drivers is likely influenced by differences in working hours, cancellation rates, job types, and expenses, with women driving less during peak hours and facing higher customer cancellations. The additional difference in net income is explained by higher costs for parking due to women drivers needing to be more selective in finding safer waiting areas, loan repayments possibly because of lower credit history, and mobile/internet services.  Beyond earnings, gender also shapes daily experiences on the platform. Female drivers face several challenges, including safety concerns and discrimination—62% reported order cancellations after customers realized they were women, 38% cancelled orders due to safety risks related to traveling to unsafe areas, and 32% experienced harassment from restaurant staff or customers.

Participation in Social Protection Programs

Platform drivers have a higher participation rate in non-contributory programs, such as subsidized health insurance (Bantuan Iuran Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional) (31%) and Rice fo the Poor (Rastra) (15%), compared to contributory schemes that require monthly premiums. Participation in support programs available to low-income households is higher among drivers compared to the general population. For example, in Jakarta, about 3% of households were recipients of PIP (Scholarship for the poor) in 2021, compared to about 14% of Jakarta’s platform drivers. Likewise, only about 6% of households receive food subsidies under Rastra, compared to 14% of online drivers.

Financial Inclusion

Platform work can promote financial inclusion by expanding drivers’ access to banking and digital financial services. While 62% of drivers already had a bank account before joining, 26% opened one as a result of their platform work. Additionally, 79% gained access to digital wallets because of their participation in the platform work. This level of access exceeds the national averages of 35% for bank account ownership and 4% for digital wallet usage.

What happens after gig work?

Our survey found that a significant proportion of active platform drivers (69%) don’t see themselves leaving the platform. The rest see it as temporary work and are considering leaving due to low earnings (30%) and aspiration to earn fixed monthly income (25%). Comparison of active and inactive drivers reveals that more educated drivers leave the platform, and 59% of them have a full time job. We conclude that their qualifications allow them to secure better employment. A significant proportion (59%) of inactive drivers reported gaining useful skills from the platform, including traffic rules (67%), learning how to use GPS (45%) and soft skills (46%) like communication and time management.

Conclusion

Platform gig work offers key advantages that many drivers value, particularly flexibility and the ability to earn additional household income—features especially important for female drivers which allow them to spend time with their growing children. While on average platform drivers earn more than casual workers, financial security is not guaranteed, with some still struggling to meet basic expenses. Despite these challenges, a striking finding is that most drivers do not see themselves leaving the platform at all. This is likely a reflection of limited earning opportunities in the economy. 

The Digital Economy Research Impact Initiative (DERII) is a five-year initiative, funded by the Gates Foundation, to study the digital economy and its welfare implications on gig workers using platforms that provide location-based services in three countries: India, Kenya, and Indonesia. The full research report from the three countries are available here.