These gig workers are quitting apps like Uber and looking for full-time jobs or other side-hustles

Gig workers are quitting apps like Uber, saying that pay and working conditions have gotten worse. Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images 2026-02-21T10:01:01.228Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Some gig workers are calling it quits on ride-hailing and delivery apps. They're looking for full-time jobs or other work. Factors from falling earnings to the rise of self-driving cars are leading gig workers to quit. Some gig workers say they're trying to log off apps like Uber and DoorDash for good. The apps have long promoted themselves to gig workers as ways for workers to make money on their own schedule. Some, however, say that they're quitting the apps and looking for alternative side hustles — or finding full-time work, if they were full-time gig workers.James Howe spent about two years working full-time as an Uber driver in the Denver area after losing his job. Initially, he said, he could work about 40 hours a week, accepting every trip that the Uber app offered him, and earn between $2,000 and $3,000 in gross pay, he told Business Insider. As good-paying trips became more scarce in his area, though, Howe said that he started cherrypicking the most profitable ones, a strategy that involved a lot more unpaid time watching the Uber app for trip offers."You wound up spending a lot more time on the app, even though you weren't necessarily driving people," he said. Every time Alex publishes a story, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Alex and get more of their work as it publishes. Sign up By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Late last year, Howe took a full-time job in finance after one of his Uber passengers recommended him for the position. He hasn't driven for Uber since December.Besides working long hours, Howe said that he's worried about self-driving cars displacing human drivers. "The future looks quite grim for them," he said. Many Uber, Lyft drivers leave after 6 monthsAbout 41% of Uber drivers who started working on the app between July and September 2025 were still completing trips on the app six months later, according to Gridwise, a data analytics company that analyzed app usage.Earlier data on people who began driving for Uber between January and April 2024 found that about 50% of workers were still using the app after six months. Lyft's retention rate, meanwhile, hovered around 40% in both data sets. An Uber spokesperson told Business Insider said that the company "saw historic low rates of driver churn in the US" over the last year. Uber also pointed to a survey released last year that found 64% of its drivers reported being "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their experience on the app.Still, Ryan Green, CEO of Gridwise, said that many gig apps used to pay more in bonuses, such as extra pay for completing a certain number of trips. That extra pay, which the apps offered during and immediately after the pandemic, kept many drivers completing trips and delivering orders. Since then, drivers have received fewer of those bonuses, Green said. At the same time, more people have turned to the gig apps to make money after layoffs or as the cost of living rises, making them more competitive, he said."The market's been oversupplied," he said. One Uber driver in Atlanta, who relied on the app for income for a decade after losing her corporate job, told Business Insider this past fall that she was looking for other work options after her ride-hailing earnings fell.Justin Fisher, who works as a ride-hailing driver for Uber and delivers for DoorDash in Houston, said he's looking for other job opportunities after Uber temporarily deactivated his account for not completing an identity check through the app in time. Account deactivations are common for gig workers, and the companies don't always provide a clear reason. Fisher, who worked in restaurant management before becoming a gig worker, said the deactivation highlighted the precarious nature of gig work."It's been making it very difficult for me to have a stable income, because I don't know for sure whether they're going to deactivate me," he said. Finding a 9-to-5 job after gig work can be hardFinding an alternative to gig work, especially a regular full-time job, isn't easy right now. Many workers who have quit their jobs or been laid off are facing long-term unemployment, even as they try to network and interview for a new role.One Lyft driver in Florida pointed to another issue: Having gig work as the most recent work experience on your résumé can make landing a new role hard. The driver, who has a bachelor's degree and ran his own marketing business before becoming a ride-hailing driver, said he thinks the year he's spent as a Lyft driver is one of the reasons most of his job applications don't lead to interviews."I'm very much considering taking Lyft off of my résumé," he said. "But if I do that, that's going to show an enormous gap of employment that I'm going to need to explain." "I don't know how I'm going to go about doing that," the driver said.Have a tip? 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