<p>Those are important and difficult questions to answer. Regarding <strong>Uber</strong>, Jonathan Hall (Uber) and Alan Krueger (Princeton) wrote a joint paper on <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/uber-static/comms/PDF/Uber_Driver-Partners_Hall_Kreuger_2015.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">An Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber's Driver-Partners in the United States</a>. The paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of Uber's driver-partners, based on both survey data and anonymized, aggregated administrative data. The following figure documents the exponential growth in the number of active Uber driver-partners in the United States from mid-2012, when uberX was launched, to late 2014.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/dG7wq.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/dG7wq.png" alt="enter image description here"></a>
Source: Hall and Krueger (2015)</p>

<p><strong>More generally</strong>, they point out that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes a supplemental module to collect information on various forms of contingent and alternative work arrangements in the Current Population Survey (CPS) in 1995, 2001, and 2005 that provides the most informative data available, although it is now somewhat out of date. The BLS contingent worker supplement also measured the share of workers in alternative work arrangements, including independent contractors. Workers in the <strong>sharing economy</strong> can work part-time or full-time, or participate on a temporary or permanent basis, but they are almost universally working as independent contractors while they are participating in the sharing economy. Thus, evidence on <strong>independent contractors</strong> can provide relevant background for understanding the nature of the labor market in a sector that overlaps with the sharing economy.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-24T23:25:47.287Z
Thank you, this is very useful, and a good reference too.
Fix.B.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-25T00:36:37.077Z
I suggest also a more recent paper: "Disruptive Change in the Taxi Business: The Case of Uber" by Judd Cramer, Alan B. Krueger (NBER Working Paper). This paper examines the efficiency of ride sharing services vis-à-vis taxis by comparing the capacity utilization rate which is also interesting as to efficiency not only number of drivers !
Alexis L.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-24T23:06:47.120Z
2016-05-24T23:06:47.120Z
emeryville
<p>Uber has probably hundreds of thousands of drivers just in the US. There are many other gig economy firms growing quickly, not only lyft, but also Amazon Prime, bite squad, etc. Is there some place in the data that we can observe this happening? Is there a number that has been growing quickly for part time, self employed maybe? Is there a number in the Social Security statistics? More generally, how do we measure the actual size of this relative to the US labor force? Maybe we should look at the fraction of self-employed people in the US?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-28T17:59:30.883Z
The US Census seems to have a lot of data on this.
http://search.census.gov/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&sc=0&query=self-employed&m=&affiliate=census&commit=Search
Currently their site is down for maintinance.
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-17T02:42:41.320Z
The data is up now, seems they don't have a lot of current data, but focus on the 2012 survey.  Thanks!
Fix.B.
<labor-economics><unemployment>
How can we measure the size of the new uber-driver-type economy?
Fix.B.
# How can we measure the size of the new uber-driver-type economy?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-04-28)

Uber has probably hundreds of thousands of drivers just in the US. There are many other gig economy firms growing quickly, not only lyft, but also Amazon Prime, bite squad, etc. Is there some place in the data that we can observe this happening? Is there a number that has been growing quickly for part time, self employed maybe? Is there a number in the Social Security statistics? More generally, how do we measure the actual size of this relative to the US labor force? Maybe we should look at the fraction of self-employed people in the US?

**Tags:** labor-economics, unemployment
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The US Census seems to have a lot of data on this. http://search.census.gov/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&sc=0&query=self-employed&m=&affiliate=census&commit=Search Currently their site is down for maintinance.  
> **username_0**: The data is up now, seems they don't have a lot of current data, but focus on the 2012 survey.  Thanks!  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-05-24. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Those are important and difficult questions to answer. Regarding **Uber**, Jonathan Hall (Uber) and Alan Krueger (Princeton) wrote a joint paper on [An Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber's Driver-Partners in the United States](https://s3.amazonaws.com/uber-static/comms/PDF/Uber_Driver-Partners_Hall_Kreuger_2015.pdf). The paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of Uber's driver-partners, based on both survey data and anonymized, aggregated administrative data. The following figure documents the exponential growth in the number of active Uber driver-partners in the United States from mid-2012, when uberX was launched, to late 2014.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/dG7wq.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/dG7wq.png)
Source: Hall and Krueger (2015)

**More generally**, they point out that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes a supplemental module to collect information on various forms of contingent and alternative work arrangements in the Current Population Survey (CPS) in 1995, 2001, and 2005 that provides the most informative data available, although it is now somewhat out of date. The BLS contingent worker supplement also measured the share of workers in alternative work arrangements, including independent contractors. Workers in the **sharing economy** can work part-time or full-time, or participate on a temporary or permanent basis, but they are almost universally working as independent contractors while they are participating in the sharing economy. Thus, evidence on **independent contractors** can provide relevant background for understanding the nature of the labor market in a sector that overlaps with the sharing economy.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you, this is very useful, and a good reference too.  
> **username_3**: I suggest also a more recent paper: "Disruptive Change in the Taxi Business: The Case of Uber" by Judd Cramer, Alan B. Krueger (NBER Working Paper). This paper examines the efficiency of ride sharing services vis-à-vis taxis by comparing the capacity utilization rate which is also interesting as to efficiency not only number of drivers !  

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