(SPONSORED CONTENT) -- Uber, like other gigs, is very easy to get into, as virtually anyone can get on the website or the app and apply to be a driver by creating an account and going through the process.

Polinario Paz, a part-time Uber/Uber Eats driver, shares how he started with the ride-hailing company.

"I heard (about Uber) through my friend, they were telling me how they would drive and make extra income," Paz said. "And just one day I just chose to sign up, and I actually like it."

The first Uber user requested a ride using the app on July 5, 2010, in San Francisco. The next year, the service went global with rides being offered as far away as Paris.

Two years later, Uber began offering ice cream delivery in seven U.S. cities, a precursor to its Uber Eats service, which first became available in 2015 in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there's no official definition of the "gig economy," but describes a "gig" as "a single project or task for which a worker is hired, often through a digital marketplace, to work on demand." The Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies gig workers as those doing contingent work or employed under "alternative employment arrangements."

The Hamilton Project's Workers and the Online Gig Economy report stated that as the post-Great Recession market continues to recover, on-demand gig work benefits workers and the economy by supporting job growth and personal income. The authors of the report pointed out that the gig economy offers flexibility, minimal training costs and low barriers in joining the workforce. These factors allow workers to supplement their incomes as needed, or to create a whole new income for themselves. Likewise, the report stated that customers benefit from services offered by gig workers and the low costs that are associated with them.