Document Type
Research Paper
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
The dramatic expansion of the gig economy in the United States has led to a transition from traditional labor markets to a more flexible structure creating opportunities for alternate income sources. While the gig economy provides more work opportunities for low-skilled workers, there are also concerns about the role that it may play in contributing to income inequality. This research explores the spatio-temporal relationship between the participation of workers in the gig economy and income inequality. The study extracts individual-level data from the IPUMS dataset to compute consistent state-specific measures of participation in the gig economy and income inequality over the past two decades. Analyses are based on panel data methods, which account for various coinciding changes in national and state economic conditions over this time period in order to disentangle the plausibly causal role of the gig economy. This project provides some of the first empirical evidence on whether, and the extent to which, the explosive growth in the gig workforce has worsened or mitigated income inequality within the U.S. It highlights the negative relationship between the participation in the gig economy and income inequality highlighting the positive effects of the gig workforce in providing higher income opportunities.
Recommended Citation
Thakur, Utsah, 2025. Gig Economy and Income Inequality, Student Research.
