Dependency and Hardship in the Gig Economy: The Mental Health Consequences of Platform Work

Abstract

The authors investigate the relationship between platform work engagement and worker mental health on the basis of two nationally representative samples of Canadian workers. Integrating insights from the job demands–resources model and Schor’s idea of “platform dependence,” the authors examine whether a dependent attachment to the platform economy is associated with poorer mental health. Multivariate analyses reveal that dependent platform workers report higher levels of psychological distress than secondary platform workers, wage workers, and the traditional self-employed. In contrast to work conditions, which contribute little to these distress patterns, financial strain explains approximately 50 percent of dependent platform workers’ higher distress. Contingency analyses reveal that financial strain also exacerbates the mental health penalties associated with dependent platform work. These findings support a “dependent-precarity” perspective of platform work stress, raising questions about the future health challenges posed by platform work in a postpandemic economy.

Gig Work and the Pandemic: Looking for Good Pay from Bad Jobs During the COVID-19 Crisis

“…In reality, however, many people doing gig work have income from other sources including wage/salary jobs (e.g., Farrell et al, 2018 ; Manyika et al, 2016 ; Ravenelle, 2019 ), and it is the subset of gig workers who depend on gigs for their income who are most affected by its precarity. Rooted in a recognition of this fact, a “platform-dependence” perspective suggests that the risks of gig work are contingent on the degree to which one is dependent on it ( Glavin & Schieman, 2022 ; Schor et al, 2020 ). Those who rely on it as their sole source of personal income may suffer more from its precarity than those who also have other jobs ( Schor et al, 2020 ).…”

Prime Suspect: Mechanisms of Labor Control at Amazon's Warehouses

“…Yet our analysis of techno-economic despotism suggests a different view, in which the effects of technology interact with varying levels of labor market uncertainty. Indeed, in a subsequent paper on platform work and mental health, Glavin and Schieman (2022) find precisely such an interaction effect, in which the health effects of platform work depend on the labor market conditions to which workers are exposed.…”

Neighborhood Disorder and Health-Related Work Absences: Perceived Control and Neighborhood Trust as Explanatory Mechanisms

“…The individual-level data employed in this research come from the Canadian Quality of Work and Economic Life Study (C-QWELS), a national survey conducted to examine social conditions and well-being among currently-employed Canadians. The C-QWELS sample frame is based on the employed Canadian population 18 years of age or older from the 2016 Canadian census; thus, it is representative sample of all working individuals in Canada (Glavin and Schieman, 2022). Data were gathered by the study authors in cooperation with the Angus Reid Forum, a Canadian national survey research firm that maintains an ongoing national panel of Canadian respondents.…”