Why Women Earn Less in the Gig Economy
Research
06.03.2025
ZEW Study on Gender Wage Gap in the Gig Economy
The wage gap between men and women is a controversial topic in the debate about women’s disadvantages in the labour market. Gender wage gaps also exist in the so-called gig economy, where digital platforms are used to assign small-scale jobs on a short-term basis to workers who operate as independent contractors. A ZEW study of over 23,000 online workers shows that women earn around 30 per cent less per hour from online freelancing than men. However, this is not because of gender-based discrimination against women by clients. The reason is that men and women act differently on the platforms and have different expectations of the contracts, and this leads to income gaps.
“In the gig economy, the gender wage gap is 30 per cent and thus even wider than in traditional job markets with wage gaps of up to 20 per cent. We have found that three factors account for this gender-related difference in wages: personal qualification, the projects women apply for compared to men’s choices of projects and the hourly rates demanded. Also, men and women use online freelancing platforms in different ways,” says study co-author Dr. Eliza Stenzhorn, researcher at ZEW’s Research Unit “Digital Economy”, who summarises the core findings of her study.
No gender-based discrimination
The study shows that men and women with comparable qualifications and job application strategies receive on average similar pay on the platform analysed. Hence, the study finds no evidence of gender-based discrimination.
However, women frequently apply for projects that require lower-paid qualifications. These include text work such as writing, editing and translating. By contrast, they are less likely to take on better paid IT, data science or engineering tasks.
Women prioritise security over higher pay
Men and women use the platforms with different goals in mind. While women tend to look for full-time employment, men more often use the portals to generate side income.
“The different job application strategies of men and women suggest that women, on average, are more in need of income from platform work than men”, says Stenzhorn.
About the study
The study examines how the qualifications and application strategies of workers who operate as independent contractors contribute to the gender wage gap in digitally mediated gig work. The researchers have analysed data on more than 23,000 online workers for the period between 2015 and 2021. In this period, the job seekers applied for over three million jobs on a globally used US-based platform, of which around 45,000 jobs were assigned to them. The researchers observe the workers’ application behaviour, controlling for details such as applied-for projects, wages asked and the payment received for the jobs completed. The platform does not wish to be named.
