This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The gig economy is rapidly growing, and scholars are still working to understand the conditions gig workers encounter. Julieta Aguilar at the University of Kentucky, U.S., and Dr.
Jeremy Reynolds at Purdue University, U.S., examined experiences of harassment in the gig economy. Their study, published on Nov. 4, 2026, in the journal PLOS One, found associations between race, gender, age and reported experiences of harassment, indicating that already precarious employment may be even more fraught for some workers. For the purposes of this study, the researchers defined gig work as participating in short-term jobs facilitated by an app or other online platform.
The data were drawn from a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, which included over 1,000 U.S. respondents who'd engaged in gig work. Due to the smaller sample size, the analysis did not encompass all race and gender identities of gig workers. Respondents answered questions about their experiences since joining the gig economy, specifically if and how often they'd "Been treated rudely," "Felt unsafe" or "Experienced an unwanted sexual advance." The authors examined the average level of harassment across the three measures.
Levels of harassment were lowest among white workers, but even then, 70% of this group said they'd experienced some form of harassment. These numbers, however, jump to 79% among Hispanic workers and 82% among Black workers. Young women were even more likely to experience harassment while performing gig work: 92% of young women reported being harassed.
Levels of harassment were higher among Black and Hispanic workers than among white workers regardless of age and gender. Workers in these marginalized groups were thus not only more likely to experience harassment, they also experienced it more frequently. While this study did not have enough data to differentiate more granularly between types of gig work, the researchers found a clear distinction between online and in-person work.
Even though only 36 respondents engaged exclusively in online gigs, workplace harassment was so low among this group that it represented a statistically significant difference. That's not too surprising given that while some online gigs like tutoring can involve human interaction, many online gigs do not. Online gigs also do not place workers directly in close quarters with strangers, such as in a car or the client's home, as is the norm for many in-person gigs.
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