From leg amputations in Thailand to hijackings in Nigeria, millions of food delivery drivers around the world find themselves torn between the desperation to make a living and the fear that each ride may be their last. The gig economy has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and brought with it a wave of concerns from drivers and researchers who say that dangerous roads and inadequate safety equipment and training are putting lives on the line daily.
By 2020 there were at least 777 digital labor platforms — from food delivery to web design — around the world, up from about 140 a decade earlier, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).
In the United States alone, the revenue of the country's top four food-delivery apps more than doubled over a five-month period in 2020 — at the height of COVID-19 lockdowns — to about $5.5 billion, according to financial analysis site MarketWatch.