The effects of Uber diffusion on the mental health of drivers.
Uber
gig economy
mental health
self-employment
Journal
Health economics
ISSN: 1099-1050
Titre abrégé: Health Econ
Pays: England
ID NLM: 9306780
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
07 2022
07 2022
Historique:
revised:
24
03
2022
received:
16
04
2021
accepted:
04
04
2022
pubmed:
30
4
2022
medline:
11
6
2022
entrez:
29
4
2022
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
While the spread of digital technologies and the growth of associated atypical forms of work are attracting increasing attention, little is known about the impact of these new forms of work on psychological well-being. This paper examines the effect of Uber diffusion on the mental health of drivers, taking advantage of the rollout of Uber across UK regions. We match individual-level information on health and sociodemographic characteristics from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (Understanding Society) between 2009 and 2019 with data on the diffusion of Uber across the country. We first show that Uber diffusion is positively associated with mental health, as measured by the General Health Questionnaire, in the population group of self-employed drivers. We argue that this positive correlation captures a selection effect (of comparatively healthier individuals into the category of self-employed drivers after Uber entry) and the omission of unobserved factors, rather than a causal effect. Indeed, we do not observe any improvement in mental health for workers who were already self-employed drivers before Uber entry. In parallel with this, among individuals who remained salaried drivers over time, our results suggest there may be a decline in mental health after Uber's introduction, probably because they feel the competition from Uber drivers.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1468-1490Informations de copyright
© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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