Gig work mostly used to supplement Canadians' household income, studies show
· Toronto Sun
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A less traditional work model is gaining popularity in Canada.
A recent survey from TransUnion suggested that gig work plays a meaningful and often complementary role in household income.
Titled The Gig Economy in Canada: Rethinking Credit Risk, Inclusion, and Market Opportunity, the report highlighted the growing importance of gig workers, who represent about 11% of Canada’s workforce.
Gig work spans a wide variety of industries, ranging from unskilled tasks like dog walking and Uber driving to specialized services like tutoring, photography, web development and graphic design.
Specialized services made up 30% of the gig workforce, while selling items online was second at 26% with freelance digital services rounding out the top three at 21%.
Majority of gig workers have full-time job
The TransUnion study, based off Statistics Canada numbers from 2024, found that a majority of gig workers were also employed full time.
“Sixty-three per cent of gig workers (earned) a salary or hourly wage from a full-time occupation,” the study said. “With nearly 40% netting between $1,000 and more than $4,000 per month after expenses from their gig work.”
A more recent study by Canadian HRReporter suggested that about 7.3 million Canadian adults were doing gig work, which equated to about 22% of work-eligible Canadians.
Securian Canada CEO Nigel Branker said follow-up polling conducted 18 months after the company’s initial 2024 research showed that participation remains steady.
“(It is) pretty steady at seven million-plus Canadians participating in gig work, unchanged from ’24 to ’25,” Branker said in a release, indicating that gig work is “more structural … it’s no longer a side hustle.”
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Gig work most popular with millennials
Gig work trends also spanned across generations as 34% of millennials hold down a full-time job in addition to their side hustle. The TransUnion study said 27% of generation X workers had a side job and 17% of generation Z adults also had a second job.
Generation Z is classified as being born between 1995 and 2004, millennials between 1980 and 1994 and generation X between 1965 and 1979.
Gig work also seemed to be evolving from a short-term solution into a sustained portion of household income.
“Seventy-one per cent of gig workers do not plan to leave this type of work in the near term, 34% expect to maintain current hours, while 20% plan to increase participation,” the report said.