Delivering healthy outcomes in the gig economy

Very little is known about the health and wellbeing impacts of working within the platform economy – also known as the gig economy - in Australia, but a new study led by the University of Adelaide’s Stretton Health Equity group is hoping to create change.

The research group, which also features academics from Queensland University of Technology, University of South Australia, University of Sydney and University of New South Wales, are looking to recruit lived experience participants.

“Most platform workers are treated as contractors or freelancers, and thus ineligible for the rights and protections provided to employees by statutes such as the Fair Work Act,” says study leader Dr Miriam van den Berg from the University of Adelaide.

“To remedy this, the Australian Government’s world-leading Closing Loopholes legislation authorises the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards on remuneration and other working conditions for ‘employee-like’ platform workers.

“While the new laws commenced in August 2024, the first new standards which are likely to be for transport and food delivery workers are not expected to take effect until mid-2025 at the earliest.”

People currently working or who have used digital platforms like Uber or Mable to gain work within the past 12 months are encouraged to participate in the study.

“We want to collect baseline data on the working conditions and health of platform workers, and then follow the implementation of the legislation over time, to find it out if working conditions improve and ultimately if this results in improvements in health and wellbeing,” says Dr van den Berg.

“Researchers have found that platform workers experience higher levels of psychological distress, lower life satisfaction and have worse mental health than workers in more secure forms of work.

“We want to find out if that is the case in Australia and if legislation that is designed to improve working conditions for platform workers is effective.

“Participants will be asked to complete a short survey, which will ask about their platform work experiences in the transport and care industries, mental health and wellbeing, as well as some demographic information such as their gender, housing, income and education level.”

The study can be found here - adelaideuniwide.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2cyixibAOl0RbFA