A new study from Statistics Canada — the first to quantify the effect of the gig economy on our workforce — has found a dramatic increase in gig workers, with much of the growth concentrated among immigrants, women and low-income Canadians.

The study, released Monday, found that the number of gig workers jumped by 70 per cent between 2005 and 2016, from 1 million to 1.7 million — an increase from 5.5 per cent of all workers aged 15 and older to 8.2 per cent.

In Toronto, as of 2016, one out of every 10 workers participated in the gig economy for at least some of their income, according to the report, titled Measuring the Gig Economy in Canada using Administrative Data.

Despite the rapid expansion, the gig economy footprint has almost certainly expanded since 2016, said Sheila Block, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, suggesting that recent labour force data showing very low unemployment amid self employment gains “reinforces the idea that much of the growth in employment has been in gig work.”

She called the study a “breakthrough,” since it provides new insights on a gig economy that had not been counted by many traditional labour force measures.

The study shows gig workers are concentrated in big cities, are more prevalent among immigrant communities and earned a median income of only $4,303 in 2016, with the bottom 40 per cent of workers by income being twice as likely to do gig work.

More women (9.1%) than men (7.2%) reported digital gig economy work and nearly half had no regular job. Of those who enter the gig economy, about half stay for a year, with about a quarter participating for three or more years. Block said many first venture into gig work after losing regular employment earnings.

The study found half of the workers rely on gigs for three quarters or more of their earnings. The workforce skews toward those with less formal education, and those in the 35 to 54 age bracket, with the largest number of gig workers (according to income tax filings) resident in Ontario.

“The gig economy is deepening and broadening the market for people who would not previously have participated,” said Armine Yalnizyan, an economist and Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers. She said the digital on-demand sector offers workers flexibility, though the pay and working conditions may be less than ideal. “That’s the tradeoff,” she said.

Gig workers increased sharply from 2005 to 2016 with the first surge corresponding to the 2008-09 recession and a second surge taking place in 2012-13 due to the proliferation of online platforms.

The percentage of gig workers rose among both those who earned no wages or salaries and those who combined gig work with wages or salaries. More than half of all gig workers in 2016 combined gig work with wages or salaries from another job.

The study marks the first attempt by the statistics agency to characterize exactly what a gig worker is, defining them as unincorporated and self-employed individuals who enter into contracts with firms or individuals to complete a specific task or work for a specific period of time. The definition includes unincorporated self-employed freelancers and on-demand workers hired for jobs mediated through online platforms such as Uber, TaskRabbit, Upwork, Fiverr and Freelancer.

The definition of gig workers in Canada is based on various Canadian administrative sources, including individual and corporate tax returns, in an attempt to measure a labour force that has been hard to define since T4s from gig work are not always filed.

Block said the StatCan study helps fill in gaps on the number of gig workers and the income they earn, which could eventually contribute to a better understanding of the contribution of the gig workforce to our GDP.

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Other reports, meanwhile, have shown Canada is playing an outsized role in the market for on-demand labour globally with Canadians early adapters of platforms to increase earnings.

The Online Labour Index, an economic indicator that provides an online gig economy equivalent of conventional labour market statistics, found on-demand labour through platforms has grown 40 per cent since mid 2016 with Canada’s share up from 4.1 per cent to 9.7 per cent, the fastest growth of all regions examined.