The incomes of Uber drivers have dropped sharply in the USA as well, not only in Romania: “I took home only 16% of the gross income. Now I should drive around 10-12 hours a day if I want to earn more”

The dissatisfaction of Uber drivers is also growing in the United States, not only in Romania, due to the sharp decrease in income. The well-known publication Business Insider spoke with an Uber driver from Cleveland, George, who detailed how much money he earns in the past and how much he gets now.

George has been an Uber driver since 2017, once quite happy with his income. But the situation has changed considerably in recent years.

“I used to praise Uber and recommend it to people looking for an opportunity to make money, but that’s not the case anymore,” George said.

In 2023, George earned more than $109,000 in gross income as an Uber driver, according to documents seen by Business Insider. But after paying Uber commissions, car maintenance, gas and various driving expenses, he took home about $17,000, or about 16% of his gross earnings. In 2021, he had taken home about 19% of his gross earnings.

George said he drives between 45 and 55 hours in a typical week and estimated that, after expenses such as gas and maintenance, he earned about $17 an hour in 2023.

“Now I would have to drive around 10-12 hours a day, six days a week, if I wanted to earn a large amount, as I did years ago, working maybe 30-40 hours a week”, said George. He recalled a particularly profitable week in 2022, when he estimated he earned about $40 an hour, after expenses.

The average earnings of an Uber driver, before expenses, fell from $29 an hour in 2022 to $25 in 2023, according to a study by Gridwise, a data analysis company. A study commissioned by the state of Minnesota and published in March found that, in 2022, drivers in the Twin Cities metropolitan area earned less than $14 an hour after expenses.

In February, an Uber representative told BI that “the vast majority of drivers are satisfied” and that “as of last quarter, US drivers were earning about $33 per hour driven” before expenses.

How much does an Uber driver earn in Romania

In Romania, an Uber driver who works, on average, two to three hours a day earns around 1000-1500 lei per month. From this money, 260 lei must pay taxes and fees, the manager of Uber Romania told Digi24 in December 2023.

“It depends on the hours spent in the application. A driver who works two to three hours a day on average can make around 1000-1500 lei per month. He pays somewhere around 260 lei in fees and taxes. We have several thousand drivers. The fees and taxes that the partner drivers pay are not to be ignored, we are talking about several million lei to the local budgets. 80% of the value of a ride goes to the driver. It is a one hundred percent taxed activity”, explained Nicoleta Schroeder.

“A driver who spends 8 hours a day on the street can earn, without problems, over 4,000 lei per month,” said Marian Pavel, Uber driver and owner of a fleet of rental cars for Addevarul, in October last year.

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