Thursday, November 8, 2018

JP Morgan Chase: "The Online Platform Economy in 2018 Drivers, Workers, Sellers, and Lessors"

This is over a month old but is worth a look if one is so inclined.
From JP Morgan Chase:
Technological innovation is transforming economic exchange. Just a decade ago, the Online Platform Economy comprised a handful of marketplaces connecting independent sellers to buyers of physical goods. Today, many consumers use software platforms to procure almost any kind of good or service from independent suppliers as a routine part of daily life. Have these innovations created viable new options for making a living?
For this study, we extend the JPMorgan Chase Institute Online Platform Economy dataset in order to track supply-side participation and earnings. We identify 38 million payments directed through 128 different online platforms to 2.3 million distinct Chase checking accounts, out of a de-identified sample of 39 million, between October 2012 and March 2018. Our description distinguishes four sectors of the Online Platform Economy:
  1. The transportation sector, in which drivers transport people or goods
  2. The non-transport work sector, in which workers offer a growing variety of services including dog walking, home repair, telemedicine, and many others
  3. The selling sector, in which independent sellers of goods find buyers through online marketplaces
  4. The leasing sector, in which lessors find lessees to rent homes, parking spaces, and many other types of assets.
Finding One
The Online Platform Economy has continued to grow. Between 2013 and 2018, transportation platforms have grown to dominate in terms of both the number of participants and total transaction volume....
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Finding Two
Most participants in the Online Platform Economy are active in just a few months out of the year.
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Finding Three
The growth in the supply of drivers has come alongside a 53 percent decline in average transportation earnings.
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Finding Four
Platform earnings represent a major source of income for families in the months they participate but only 20 percent of income among those who participated at any point in the prior year....
...MUCH MORE, charts, graphs downloads