Close to half a million people work through a digital platform or app: Statistics Canada

In December 2023, 468,000 people aged 15 to 69 years (1.7% of people in this age group) indicated they had worked through a digital platform or app to earn income in the previous 12 months and were paid by the platform for their work, reported Statistics Canada on Monday.

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Among them, 368,000 indicated that they had provided a service and 103,000 reported that they had sold goods or leased accommodation. For 79,000 people (0.4% of the employed population), working through such digital platforms or apps was their main job or business during the December 2023 LFS reference week, said the federal agency.

“The broadest definition of digital platform employment includes platforms that pay workers directly, those that exercise another form of control, and those that simply connect workers with clients and let them arrange the payment by themselves. Based on this definition, 927,000 people (3.3% of the population aged 15 to 69 years) reported that they had engaged in digital platform employment in the 12 months preceding December 2023,” said StatsCan.

“The concepts of “gig work” and the “gig economy” have become common terms to refer to paid activities involving short-term tasks or jobs offering no guarantee of steady work. Some of these activities are conducted through digital platforms or apps, while others are done offline using traditional methods that help workers connect with clients or businesses. Defining and measuring the gig economy is important to better understand how many Canadians engage in new forms of employment and the working conditions they experience.”

In October, November and December 2022, an average of 624,000 self-employed Canadians aged 15 to 69 years had a main job with characteristics that were consistent with the concept of gig work. These characteristics include a lack of employees, business partners or a physical building or premises dedicated to their self-employment activity. Beyond that, these gig workers generally fell into two categories; those who worked very short hours or operated their business intermittently (91,000 workers) and those who usually dedicated more time to their business but did not have a stable client base (449,000 workers). In addition, 84,000 self-employed workers had characteristics of both groups, said the report.

“In addition to self-employed gig workers, 247,000 Canadians who were paid employees in their main job had employment characteristics that were consistent with the definition of gig work in the fourth quarter of 2022,” it said.

“As gig work consists of short-term tasks or paid activities, it can also be done sporadically and does not always represent a main job or business. In October, November and December 2022, an additional 1.5 million people on average reported having done freelancing, paid gigs or short-term jobs or tasks at some point during the previous 12 months.”

Mario Toneguzzi