Methods: Data were collected in a 2022 survey commissioned by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protections among all NYC platform-based prepared food delivery workers. Modified Poisson regression models were used to estimate the adjusted prevalence rate ratio associations between job dependence and injury and assault.

Results: Among the 1,650 food delivery gig workers included in our analytic sample, 67% reported that delivery gig work was their main or only job (fully dependent). While working for a platform-based delivery company, 21.9% reported experiencing an injury resulting in missed work, loss of consciousness, or receiving medical care and 20.8% reported being assaulted. Fully dependent respondents had a 1.61 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.20, 2.16) and a 1.36 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.80) times greater prevalence of injury and assault, respectively, than partially dependent respondents after adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, language, employment length, transportation mode, and weekly work hours.

Conclusion: Dependence represents an axis of health inequality given how closely it tracks with social position. Lower-educated, minoritized, and immigrant workers with fewer standard employment prospects are more likely to be fully dependent on gig work and are more likely to experience its negative effects than to accrue its flexibility benefits. Dependence is tied to loss of control over work schedules and the ability to decline more dangerous assignments. Labor policy which classifies most gig workers as independent contractors is perpetuated by false narratives of the benefits of flexibility, especially for those fully dependent on these jobs.