The study — in which researchers Virginia Navajas Romero, Rocío Muñoz Benito, and Maribel Sánchez Rodríguez participated — identifies and distinguishes riders within the platform economy, also known as the gig economy, a labor model characterized by temporary, flexible, short-duration work managed primarily through digital platforms. The gig economy encompasses a wide variety of jobs, not only those of riders, but also in graphic design, programming, consulting, translation, and more. The key characteristic that sets riders apart from the rest, in addition to the physical travel required to perform their work, is that they face significantly more precarious labor conditions.
After applying Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to a European Union database containing information on the working conditions of 516 digital platforms, the team found that rider work is characterized by an absence of formal contracts, low autonomy in task assignment, algorithmic control, and a lack of social protection.
Specifically, riders do not freely choose the tasks they perform; instead, an opaque assignment system — the algorithm — makes those decisions for them, rewarding or penalizing them accordingly. The algorithm not only manages operations but also acts as a monitoring mechanism, tracking availability schedules and riders’ locations. Moreover, the tasks involve physical activity requiring travel for which workers must provide their own means of transport, exposing themselves to traffic and adverse weather conditions without any social or union protection covering their basic rights, all compounded by the stress of delivering orders within set time limits.
As a result, riders are defined by high precarity and low autonomy, according to the study. “There are people who seek out this work because of the apparent flexibility and freedom it offers,” explains Navajas Romero, adding that, in reality, “the work is neither one thing nor the other. The rider isn’t the one who organizes the delivery schedule; the app is, or, more precisely, the algorithm, which remains completely opaque.” As her colleague Muñoz Benito adds, “the absence of specific legislation allows for a model in which workers are deprived of rights. The reality is that some people can only access this type of work because, for reasons of age, education, or other circumstances, they find no other options on the labor market.”
The study offers a detailed picture of the figure of the rider that can serve institutions seeking to better understand the reality of this group. Its findings may also help society to develop specific regulations to better understand the characteristics defining these jobs.
Reference
Virginia Navajas-Romero, Rocío Muñoz-Benito, M. Isabel Sánchez-Rodríguez, “Rethinking job dimensions: The value of riders and gig economy workers”, Technological Forecasting and Social Change , Volume 222, 2026, 124379, ISSN 0040-1625, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124379 .
Technological Forecasting and Social Change
10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124379
Rethinking job dimensions: The value of riders and gig economy workers
17-Oct-2025