This article is part of the FT Financial Literacy & Inclusion Campaign’s seasonal appeal. The appeal is supported by lead partner Experian which is generously match-funding other donations.

“Look at this one,” Abdurzak Hadi says, pointing at an Uber ridesharing job that’s popped up on the phone affixed to his dashboard. “It’s telling me the pick-up is 14 minutes, 4.4 miles away. 14 minutes! That’s 14 minutes I’m not going to get paid for.”

Drivers for Uber and other gig economy apps generally aren’t paid for the time spent travelling to pick-ups, which makes choosing the right job crucial. And they have around 15 seconds to choose which job to accept or decline when it arrives on screen.

Hadi, who’s driven for Uber since 2014, says he’s watched his earnings fluctuate significantly over the past few years.

That’s because platform workers like him have to navigate so-called dynamic wages. Rather than paying a fixed price for distance travelled, apps use an algorithmic system that pays a different rate for each assigned job, depending on a complicated set of factors that remain hidden to both users and drivers.

The resulting financial precarity drives platform workers to develop personal finance survival skills. Hadi, who is a chair of the App Drivers & Couriers Union, is also calling for legislative changes to give gig workers greater access to data about how they’re paid for each job.

While dynamic wages are meant to incentivise drivers through the laws of supply and demand, many gig workers say this leads to low wages and long hours.

Hadi says that drivers need to learn how to track the time they spend on the road and the full raft of expenses that eat into their earnings so they can quickly establish which rides to accept.

He added that some drivers attempted workarounds to reduce wait times, such as two drivers working in pairs while driving airport pick-ups, but they risked losing their Transport for London taxi license to do so. Gig economy platforms have also cracked down on asylum seekers working illegally through worker “substitutions.”

Local knowledge offers a less risky form of assistance. In south east London, moped delivery driver Milo Sterlini says he knows which nearby restaurants and dark kitchens are likely to make him wait for an order, and which will have food ready promptly. This can help him increase the number of trips he completes in a day.

Bundled in gloves and a helmet, the 31-year-old will often work across five different apps — whether food delivery services like Just Eat or parcel delivery platforms such as Gophr — in order to select the most profitable jobs.

Gig workers also need to calculate costs such as fuel, vehicle rental, maintenance, insurance, and gear. “If you cheap out on your equipment you’re going to be shivering,” said Sterlini, who releases videos of his rides on YouTube.

He said food delivery apps have cut the bonuses that were offered when he started out in 2022. Although he works full-time as an electrician, he says London’s high housing costs mean that he has to work as a driver four times a week in the evenings or on his days off.

When Hadi first joined Uber, the app offered a standard, easy to understand pay structure, as well as ample bonuses. “A lot of people moved from traditional minicab to the app,” said Hadi. At first, the pay was far superior to what drivers were making driving traditional cabs, but over time the pay and bonuses became less appealing.

“It was honey at first, but now it’s vinegar.”

Researchers have also pointed to algorithmic pricing’s negative effects on workers’ wellbeing. Alex Wood, an assistant professor in economic sociology at the University of Cambridge, said dynamic wages led to workers “risking their health and safety” during surge periods, as well as “quite shockingly high levels of anxiety” overall.

There have also been battles over whether gig economy apps should be paying their workers the national minimum wage.

In 2023 theSupreme Court ruled that Deliveroo does not have to recognise drivers as workers rather than independent contractors, entitling them to the minimum wage and holiday pay.

Uber said: “People choose to earn with Uber because we offer flexibility over where and when they work. That includes transparency over every trip they take — including the destination and their own earnings, before they decide whether to accept.”

The company said it is working with the GMB union, which has consistently called for greater wage transparency.

“Clarity over earnings is central to a workers financial security and is a fundamental building block of collective bargaining,” said GMB national officer Eamon O’Hearn, who added that the union was campaigning for pay on time and distance rather than a dynamic wage system.

In parallel, the platform giants have threatened or launched legal challenges against services such as Rodeo, which helps workers track their drive data and “cherry pick” the most profitable jobs.

“Algorithmic dynamic pay can be efficient, but without transparency, it prevents workers from making informed decisions and undermines their ability to manage their finances,” said Alfie Pearce-Higgins, co-founder of Rodeo, which offered gig workers a detailed breakdown of their wages as well as recommending profitable rides.

But Deliveroo blocked Rodeo from accessing app data in 2023 and threatened the company with legal action.

A new Fair Work Agency, set for launch in April 2026, will give the government additional powers to crack down on employment violations, such as paying gig workers below the minimum wage.

Also looking to help is the FT-backed Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign charity. ‘Managing a regular monthly salary can be challenging enough, but dealing with varying terms on multiple platforms makes budgeting, saving, paying tax and investing far trickier,” says Aimée Allam, executive director of the charity. In 2026, after consulting with gig workers in a project funded by the Association of British Insurers, FT FLIC plans to unveil “modern financial learning materials that will offer bespoke tools to help navigate these lumpy incomes”.

Pearce-Higgins agreed that financial education around pension and tax filing for gig workers would also be beneficial.

For the time being, however, dynamic wages continue to pit gig economy workers against the companies that control the wage algorithms.

“It’s a tough gig,” said Sterlini. “They’re trying to squeeze as much as they can out of the riders.”