Statistics • The Modern Way of Working
The Modern Way of Working 2026: Platform Income Stacking by the Numbers
Updated 30 Sep 2026
Most platform income is earned alongside other work rather than in place of a job, the pattern PlatformTaxHub calls platform income stacking.
Cite this page
PlatformTaxHub. "The Modern Way of Working 2026: Platform Income Stacking by the Numbers." 4042 Solutions Group LLC, 2026. platformtaxhub.com/statistics/modern-way-of-working-2026
The charts and figures on this page may be reused with credit to PlatformTaxHub and a link to this page.
Key Statistics
01
Platform Work Alongside Traditional Employment
Platform work is a small share of employed people at any one time, 0.96% in Australia over four weeks and 0.4% in Canada as a main job, while 51% of US gig workers also have a non-gig main job.
| Hub | Where | Platform work (as published) | Structure of employment | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All hubs | Global | 154M–435M online gig workers, 4.4–12.5% of the labour force (online work only) | Self-employed 46.4% · wage and salaried 53.6% | World Bank 2023; ILO modelled estimates 2025 |
| Americas | Canada | 1.7% of 15–69s were paid by a platform in the past 12 months; 0.4% of employed people as their main job (Dec 2023) | Self-employed 12.9% | Statistics Canada |
| Americas | United States | 9% of adults earned via an online gig platform in the past 12 months (2021). 20% did some gig activity in the prior month, including selling items (2024) | Self-employed 6.1% | Pew 2021; Federal Reserve SHED 2024 |
| Europe | European Union (16 countries + Norway) | 3.0% of 15–64s did platform work in the past 12 months (2022, experimental) | Self-employed 14.2% (EU) | Eurostat |
| Europe | United Kingdom | Just under half a million people work in the gig economy; only a fifth see it as their main income | Self-employed 13.1% | CIPD analysis of ONS Labour Force Survey, 2023 |
| Africa | Nigeria | — | Self-employed 85.6%; 93% of employment informal (Q2 2024) | National Bureau of Statistics |
| Asia | Australia | 0.96% of employed people did platform work in the last 4 weeks (2022–23, experimental) | Self-employed 16.1% | Australian Bureau of Statistics |
| Asia | India | 7.7M gig workers, 1.5% of the workforce (2020–21), projected 23.5M, 4.1% by 2029–30 (includes non-platform gig work) | Self-employed 74.9% | NITI Aayog 2022 |
02
By Age: Who Stacks Platform Income
Platform workers are over-represented under 35 and under-represented from about 45, in Australia (2022–23) and Great Britain (2017); in Europe, people aged 30–64 make up about 7 in 10 platform workers.
Australia: every age group
Share of platform workers in each age group, against the share of all employed people.
Great Britain, 2017: people in work
| Age | Gig workers | All in work |
|---|---|---|
| 18–34 | 56% | 29% |
| 35–54 | 35% | 48% |
| 55+ | 10% | 22% |
Gig economy work in the last 12 months, 2017. Source: UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, The characteristics of those in the gig economy (2018).
Europe: the middle is the majority
3.6% of 15–29s did platform work in the past 12 months, against 2.8% of 30–64s. Because there are far more people aged 30–64, they still make up most platform workers: women aged 30–64 are 32.8% and men aged 30–64 are 36.6%, against 30.6% aged 15–29.
16 EU countries and Norway, 2022 (experimental). Source: Eurostat, Employment statistics: digital platform workers.
United States: rates by age
| Age | Did any gig activity |
|---|---|
| 18–29 | 26% |
| 30–44 | 24% |
| 45–59 | 21% |
| 60+ | 12% |
US adults, prior month, October 2024, including selling items. Source: Federal Reserve, Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024 (2025).
Developing economies: share under 30
| Region | Online gig workers | Services sector |
|---|---|---|
| Middle East & North Africa | 79% | 23% |
| South Asia | 66% | 36% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 63% | 29% |
| Europe & Central Asia | 53% | 20% |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 53% | 30% |
| East Asia & Pacific | 48% | 25% |
Share aged 15–29, 2022 web survey of 17 low- and middle-income countries. Source: World Bank, Working Without Borders (2023), Figure 4.2.
03
Self-Employment by Country Income Level (2025)
78.9% of workers in low-income countries are self-employed, against 11.1% in high-income countries and 46.4% worldwide.
04
What Is Pushing People Towards Platform Income
Scarce wage jobs, cross-border demand, slower hiring and AI exposure in entry-level work are the pressures documented alongside the growth of platform work.
Too few wage jobs where most young people live
In low-income countries, 78.9% of workers are self-employed. The ILO describes much of this own-account work as "often low paid and undertaken out of necessity", and says its share rose again between 2015 and 2025. The World Bank expects 1.2 billion young people in the Global South to reach working age over the next ten years, against about 420 million new jobs.
Source: ILO modelled estimates 2025; ILO Employment and Social Trends 2026; World Bank 2024
Work that crosses borders
The World Bank counts 545 online gig platforms, with workers and clients in 186 countries. Demand for online gig work is growing faster in developing countries: on the largest platform, job postings grew 130% in Sub-Saharan Africa against 14% in North America.
Source: World Bank, Working Without Borders, 2023
Slower hiring in the US
US employers announced 1,206,374 job cuts in 2025, the most since 2020, and planned the fewest hires since 2010. Early-career graduates (22–27) faced about 5.6% unemployment and 42% underemployment in Q2 2026.
Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Jan 2026; Federal Reserve Bank of New York
AI and first jobs
The ILO estimates that 6.1% of jobs held by 15–29-year-olds are in the occupations most exposed to AI. In the US, employment of 22–25-year-olds in AI-exposed occupations is 19% below where it would be had it kept pace with less-exposed peers, mostly through slower hiring. The researchers describe this as an early signal, not proof that AI is the cause.
Source: ILO, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026; Stanford Digital Economy Lab, August 2026
One income is not enough for many
About a third of US gig workers say that without gig work they would have trouble making ends meet.
Source: Federal Reserve SHED 2024
05
The Platforms Themselves
Active digital labour platforms grew five-fold between 2010 and 2020, from 142 to 777, and numbered 653 in October 2025 after closures and mergers.
2010
142
active digital labour platforms
2020
777
five-fold growth in a decade
Oct 2025
653
after closures and mergers
06
What Platforms Charge Earners
The average effective platform fee is 21.7% across 145+ platforms.
21.7%
Sources
- Sources: national statistics offices, international organisations and the publications listed below, checked September 2026.
- Platform fee figure: PlatformTaxHub platform dataset, 17 Oct 2026.
- World Bank (2023). Working Without Borders: The Promise and Peril of Online Gig Work
- World Bank (2023). Demand for Online Gig Work Rapidly Rising in Developing Countries (press release)
- World Bank. Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate), SL.EMP.SELF.ZS
- World Bank (2024). High-level council to tackle looming jobs crisis (press release)
- World Bank (2019). World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work
- ILO (2021). World Employment and Social Outlook 2021: The role of digital labour platforms in transforming the world of work
- ILO (2026). Digital labour platforms: Number of platforms and workers (research brief)
- ILO (2026). Employment and Social Trends 2026
- ILO (2026). Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026
- Pew Research Center (2021). The State of Gig Work in 2021
- Federal Reserve (2025). Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024: Employment and Gig Work
- CIPD (2023). The gig economy: What does it really look like?
- Eurostat. Employment statistics: digital platform workers
- Statistics Canada (2024). The Daily, 4 March 2024: digital platform employment
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023). Digital platform workers in Australia
- NITI Aayog (2022). India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy
- National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria. Nigeria Labour Force Survey Q2 2024
- UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2018). The characteristics of those in the gig economy
- Stanford Digital Economy Lab (2026). Canaries in the Coal Mine? (revised August 2026)
- Challenger, Gray & Christmas (2026). Job Cuts Report, December 2025
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates
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