The study Gig Economy Panel in the Brazilian transportation sector: who, where, how many, and how much they earn, conducted by IPEA, analyzed microdata from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey between 2016 and the fourth quarter of 2021.

The figures show that approximately 1.5 million Brazilians were working on digital platforms in the transport sector at the end of 2021, including 222,000 motorcycle taxi drivers, 945,000 app drivers/taxi drivers, 322,000 motorcycle delivery drivers, and 55,000 delivery drivers using other means of transport.

In addition to a high proportion of workers who have not completed high school (60.1%), the survey indicates a decline in the average income of a significant portion of workers in the digital platform transportation sector.

The data analysis shows that the earnings of drivers and taxi drivers fell from R$ 16.10 per hour worked in the first quarter of 2016 to R$ 11.01 in the first quarter of 2021, while delivery workers' wages fell from R$ 11.20 to R$ 9.40 over the same period. Only the income of motorcycle taxi drivers remained stable during the period, always around R$ 6.00 per hour.