Uber attracts record number of drivers as cost of living bites

As people look for new sources of income due to concerns about the rising cost of living, the number of people driving for Uber has increased to an all-time high.

According to business CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, there are now about 5 million individuals working for the company picking up passengers or delivering food, a 31% increase from the previous year.

Since the epidemic, Uber has experienced a driver scarcity that has increased client wait times.

Mr Khosrowshahi asserted that interest in working as a driver for the company was growing despite these costs.

Businesses must classify them as employees, according to a decision made by the UK Supreme Court last year. But in many countries, including significant markets like the US, Uber defines drivers as independent contractors, excluding them from benefits like minimum wage or holiday pay.

Uber claims that having the ability to choose their schedules is a perk for drivers. But it has also reacted to complaints, establishing a fuel premium that users pay to help cover driver expenses, for instance.

Drivers are being drawn back by higher demand, which has increased since the epidemic struck in 2020 and had previously fallen.

Uber reported 1.87 billion trips taken on its platform between April and June, or an average of about 21 million per day. This represents a 24% increase over last year and a 12% increase over trips taken in 2019 before the pandemic.

Demand growth contributed to a 33% increase in gross bookings to $29.1 billion (£24 billion).

Although some of that was caused by a change in how the company records for its UK division, revenue more than quadrupled to $8.1 billion.

The business still lost $2.6 billion despite the gains. It claimed that more than half of that was attributable to a decrease in the value of its investments in foreign firms like Zomato, Grab, and Aurora.

After the better than anticipated results, Uber’s share prices increased by more than 13%. Despite inflationary pressures and persistent driver shortages in some cities, the data point to a way for Uber to achieve profitability, according to Dan Ives, the analyst at Wedbush Securities.