I‘m sure all of us have taken Grab or Uber before. If you frequently Grab or Uber, you’ll notice that nowadays, there are more young drivers joining Grab and Uber full-time. Why does it attract younger drivers so much?
Younger Drivers Hit the Road with Grab and Uber
Many youths, such as Ms Chen Roujie, 30, have turned to driving for Grab and Uber as a lucrative full-time job or an easy way to supplement their incomes outside their day jobs. However, what makes it so lucrative?
Firstly, it’s all about the age. Ms Chen wasn’t old enough to apply for a Taxi Driver’s Vocational Licence. When she was winding down the cleaning firm she ran with her sister last year, driving a private-hire car was an option for a full-time job for her.
Although she got off to a “shaky” start as a Grab driver, she turned full-time after about nine months, when she realised that she could make enough, after including the incentives she gets from the ride-hailing platform.
Ms Chen acknowledged that she does not always get a stable income driving for Grab. However, the flexibility of the job was a draw. She takes home an average of S$6,000 a month — after deducting car rental and petrol, as well as Grab’s 20 per cent cut — by driving every day, for about nine hours.
On the flip side, while driving for private hire services may be a viable source of income, they do not have benefits such as Central Provident Fund contributions and medical leave.
Underemployment
However, the bigger issue for young private-hire drivers was underemployment. Tampines GRC MP Desmond Choo, who sits on the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, pointed out that young private-hire drivers do not land jobs commensurate with their training. But he conceded that what they had studied in school may also not land them jobs that they want or that pay well enough to meet their needs.
While younger drivers should not be denied the option of supplementing their income to support their families, Mr Choo mentioned that there was a limit to the amount they could earn.
As public transport evolves with the rise of driver-less technology, the pool of drivers would shrink over time. Hence, he suggested that youth should want to plan for their longer-term needs for a better job security.
Come to think of it, $6,000 per month is quite a good catch, only if you’re willing to put in the hours to drive consistently. Tell me, who has the ability to drive for 9 hours straight without resting? Most of us would just be slacking away after picking up one passenger.
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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com
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