Most Grab drivers want to keep job after pandemic: ADB

MANILA — Around 90 percent of food delivery riders on Grab would like to continue working for the platform even after the COVID-19 pandemic, a study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed.

"We asked our respondents, 12,000 of them, in Manila, Cebu, and Davao, and we asked them, were they willing to continue their work with Grab food delivery? More than 90 percent of them said that they would continue after the pandemic," Takashi Yamano, principal economist at the ADB's Economic Research and Development Impact Department, said on Monday. 

Food deliveries proliferated in key Philippine cities during pandemic-induced lockdowns.

"So it was not one-time shift to this work, but they are intending to stay with the work. And I believe that this workforce will continue to expand," Yamano said. 

Yamano noted that Grab drivers enjoy having an independent working environment and a decent income from their job.

"Many drivers we talked to said they enjoy not having supervisors observing their work," he noted.

"(They also have) decent earnings, so on average, workers earn about P5,700 per week. This adds up to average monthly wage of P23,000 with Grab... In their previous jobs they earned about P15,000," he said. 

Yamano stressed, however, that government must give gig economy workers, like food delivery riders, some sort of social protection.

"Although they are independent contractors, bringing them into the social economy, formal economy is very important... This is a new form of employment," he added.

"There’s an advantage of this kind of contract, platformers contracting independent work. There’s benefits to it. So instead of restricting their work, maybe find a proper way of helping them," he said.