研究 The Online Platform Economy: Who earns the most?

In the 澳博官方网站app 研究所's report Paychecks, Paydays, and the Online Platform Economy, we documented that 4 percent of adults earned income from the Online Platform Economy between October 2012 and September 2015. Despite the tremendous growth in participation in the Online Platform Economy—a 47-fold increase over three years—these online "gigs" remained a secondary source of income for most people. In months when individuals earned platform income, 劳动的平台, 比如Uber或TaskRabbit，在这些平台上，个人可以完成不同的任务或任务, contributed 33 percent of total monthly income, and capital platforms, such as eBay or Airbnb where individuals sell goods or rent assets, contributed 20 percent of total monthly income.

With many policy debates underway, including whether platform workers should constitute a new class of "independent workers" and how to provide traditional 工作的好处  为他们, 重要的是要了解谁将受到拟议的政策或结果的最大影响 class action lawsuits. We find that the Online Platform Economy contributed significantly to the bottom line for certain segments of the population, notably labor platform participants in general, and specifically labor platform earners who live in San Francisco, or who are 35 and older or have low-to-moderate incomes. Among these segments, platform earnings represented, 平均, more than a fourth of their income over a 12-month span.

To shed light on who earns the most from online platforms, we drew on our anonymized sample of over 260,000 core 追逐 checking account customers who earned income on at least one of 30 platforms—the largest sample of platform earners analyzed to date. Here we focus on the 196,在2014年10月至2015年9月的12个月期间，共有5000人参与了调查. During this span, 3.1 percent of adults earned income from online platforms, 2.4 percent in capital platforms and 0.8 percent in 劳动的平台.

1. West Coast cities are the epicenter of the Online Platform Economy, 旧金山在参与和依赖在线“零工”方面名列榜首。.

在旧金山，许多最大的在线平台公司的总部都设在那里.在截至2015年9月的12个月期间，1%的成年人从平台获得收入, 与3相比.1 percent nationally (Figure 1).¹ 而旧金山的劳动平台参与率最高, Seattle had the highest participation rate for capital platforms. 在所有大都市地区，更多的人从资本平台获得收入，而不是劳动力平台, 很少有人——不到3%的参与者——同时从劳动力和资本平台获得收入.

图1中15个城市的劳动平台参与率差异很大. Participation in 劳动的平台 ranged from a high of 2.2 percent in San Francisco to a low of 0.4 percent of adults in New York City—a five-fold difference. A number of factors likely contributed to this dispersion, including the timing of when platform companies entered each market, regulatory efforts in response to their growth, and local labor market and price conditions. In contrast to 劳动的平台, there was less variation in the rate of participation in capital platforms across cities—participation rates ranged from a high of 3.1 percent in Seattle to a low of 2.0 percent in 休斯顿 and 凤凰城.

Platform earnings were a secondary source of income for established participants in all 15 cities and the nation as a whole, representing 26 percent of annual income for labor platform participants and 11 percent of annual income for capital platform participants (Figure 2).² We define "established participants" as those who also received platform income at any point in the two years before October 2014. We study the reliance of this group of participants in order to observe a full 12-month period in which platform income could contribute to a participant's income. 考虑到在线平台的快速增长，以及随着时间的推移，某些平台的可用性存在地域差异, established platform participants provide a more steady-state view of the contribution platform earnings made to total income. Among all platform earners, including individuals who began participating during the most recent year, platform earnings represented 14 percent of total income for labor platform participants and 6 percent of income for capital platform participants.³

旧金山的个人不仅参与劳动平台的比例高于全国其他地区, 但他们也是最依赖这些平台的——参与者年收入的35%来自这些平台. This degree of reliance was about nine percentage points higher than the national average and 20 percentage points higher than the city with the least reliant participants, 底特律. Capital platform participants in San Diego, 凤凰城, 丹佛 and Miami were most reliant on their platform earnings, which represented more than 12 percent of total income for the year, 相比之下，全国平均水平为11%，哥伦布市为7%, 俄亥俄州. 

* Due to smaller sample sizes, the 95 percent confidence intervals on these estimates are 4 percentage points for Seattle; 3 percentage points for Atlanta, 哥伦布, and 底特律; 2 percentage points for San Jose, 丹佛, 休斯顿, and 凤凰城; and less than 2 percentage points for the remaining cities.

Source: 澳博官方网站app 研究所

2. 千禧一代最有可能从在线平台经济中获得收入, but they were the least reliant on platform earnings across age groups.

More than five percent of Millennials (those ages 18-34) earned income from the Online Platform Economy over these 12 months, compared to a national average of 3.1 percent (Figure 3). This age gap in participation existed for both types of platforms. Compared to adults ages 65 and older, 18-24 year olds were roughly nine-fold more likely to earn income on 劳动的平台 and five-fold more likely to earn income on capital platforms. 

尽管年轻人更有可能参与在线平台经济, 与年长用户相比，他们对平台收入的依赖程度最低(图4)。. Labor platform earnings represented about 23 percent of total annual income for participants age 18-34 compared to more than 28 percent of total earnings for individuals age 45 and older. 类似的, 资本平台收入约占18-34岁参与者年收入总额的9%, but more than 11 percent for all other participants. 这表明，尽管人们对“零工经济”的大部分关注都集中在千禧一代身上, online platforms might, 事实上, be a more important source of income for other age groups, including retirees and individuals with families. 

3. 在线平台经济吸引了不同收入水平的个人, 但低收入和中等收入的参与者更依赖于劳动平台的收入.

在所有收入群体中，大约有3%的成年人从在线平台经济中获得收入(图5)。. Participation rates, 然而, 在劳动力平台上，低收入个人的收入是否略高，而在资本平台上，情况正好相反. 

* Individuals are grouped into income quintiles based on an annual pre-tax income estimate for the year ascertained by 澳博官方网站app based on individual, third-party and zip code-level data. Incomes ranges are $0- $30,1分位数是000, $30,100-$44,000代表第二分位数, $44,100-$58,5分位数是000, $58,100-$83,四分位数是800, 和83美元,900 and above for quintile 5.

Source: 澳博官方网站app 研究所

Low- and moderate-income individuals were more reliant on labor platform earnings than the rest of the population (Figure 6). Labor platform earnings represented more than 25 percent of annual income for participants in the bottom three income quintiles compared to just 20 percent of annual income for labor platform participants in the top income quintile. Across the income spectrum, 资本平台收入约占参与者收入的11%.

The fact that participation in and reliance on platforms was so consistent across the income spectrum speaks to the diversity of roles and opportunities with which individuals can access these new marketplaces. 有些甚至有 推测 在线平台经济可能有潜力减少不平等. 同时, we do see evidence that capital platforms enable individuals with higher incomes to generate proportionally more earnings.

* Individuals are grouped into income quintiles based on an annual pre-tax income estimate for the year ascertained by 澳博官方网站app based on individual, third-party and zip code-level data. Incomes ranges are $0- $30,1分位数是000, $30,100-$44,000代表第二分位数, $44,100-$58,5分位数是000, $58,100-$83,四分位数是800, 和83美元,900 and above for quintile 5.

Source: 澳博官方网站app 研究所

The implications of earning a significant share of one's livelihood from online platforms and other non-standard forms of work are many. For example, such individuals may be more likely to owe taxes at 税收的时间因为平台和独立合同工作通常不会预扣税. 为了申请抵押贷款，平台参与者的收入可能更难以核实, auto loan or other lines of credit. 他们可能不太可能获得标准员工的典型工作场所福利, such as health insurance, 退休计划, 带薪休假. 另一方面，通过平台赚钱的人可以灵活地选择工作时间和地点. They have a readily accessible option to generate additional earnings when income from their traditional jobs falls short or to cover a month with higher expenses.

从数据中可以清楚地看出，尽管在线平台经济仍然是第二收入来源, 劳动力平台对参与者总收入的贡献大于资本平台. 劳动平台收入约占35岁及以上参与者年收入的30%, have low-to-moderate incomes or live in San Francisco. These are among the communities of participants who stand the most to gain or lose as policy changes and lawsuits unfold. Policy makers and business leaders have the opportunity right now to weigh the risks and benefits of the Online Platform Economy and help shape this new marketplace for the greater good of workers, businesses and the economy.

澳博官方网站app研究所致力于为公众利益提供数据丰富的分析和专家见解. Our recently released report Paychecks, Paydays, and the Online Platform Economy explores the demographics and sources of income volatility and provides an unprecedented look at the impact of the Online Platform Economy.