One in five platform drivers and couriers sees no career path

One in five people providing ride-hailing or courier services through platforms is working full time in a field for which they consider themselves overqualified, ERR reported, citing a new report commissioned by Estonia’s Development Monitoring Centre.

The study, conducted by researchers from Tallinn University of Technology, the University of Tartu and Tallinn University, found that platform work in Estonia is often done alongside studies, salaried employment, a pension, parental benefits or entrepreneurship. However, several thousand people do it full time or more.

The researchers distinguished between online and location-based platform work. Online work covers fields ranging from programming to content creation, while location-based platform work mainly involves ride-hailing and courier services.

According to the report, 7 percent of online platform workers worked full time. Among ride-hailing and courier service providers, at least 30 percent of respondents did so, equivalent to an estimated 2,245 people.

The responses of online and location-based platform workers differed considerably. Mari-Klara Stein, one of the study’s authors and a professor of organisation and management at Tallinn University of Technology, said online platform workers generally performed work related to their education. They also reported greater satisfaction with their development opportunities and greater willingness to pursue further training.

Location-based platform workers considered themselves to be in a much more difficult position, Stein said. “People do not even think of it as a career, but simply as a source of income. At the same time, they see themselves as overqualified for the work and believe there are few opportunities for development,” she said.

Olavi Miller, an expert at the Development Monitoring Centre, said platform work was the main source of income for only 10 percent of respondents. Those respondents generally worked more than full time, meaning at least 160 hours a month, he added.

One in five consider themselves overqualified

The report defines a career dead end as working full time in a field for which a person considers themselves overqualified. Among people who regularly worked in ride-hailing or as couriers, 19 percent said they were in this situation.

“When a person’s entire working time is taken up by courier or ride-hailing services, it is probably very difficult to find time to learn something new or look for another job. That is what we define as a career dead end,” Miller said.