Economy White Paper Series

Our new analysis finds that under Proposition 22, an initiative on the November ballot, app-based drivers in California will earn more than $25 per hour – well over the state’s minimum wage and far more than what was recently estimated by researchers at UC Berkeley. Based on findings from studies out of Cornell and Stanford Universities, which utilize driver data provided by app-based companies themselves, the new report finds that if Prop 22 passes, driver earnings will range from $25.61 per hour to $27.58 per hour after expenses, depending on the number of weekly hours driven.

“To date, there has been almost no real analysis of the effect that Prop 22 will have on driver earnings,” said Christopher Thornberg, Director of CEFD and one of the report’s authors. “In looking carefully at driver data analyses, we’ve found that under this policy, drivers could see earnings that average close to $28 per hour, far outstripping even California’s living wage standard.”