Data from the Illinois Coalition for Independent Work shows that app-based drivers make on average more than twice the hourly minimum wage in Chicago.

"Well, the main thing is to do between $3,000 to $4,000 a month," Othello King, a full-time Uber driver told Illinois Business Daily. 

The average working hours of Chicago app-based drivers like King do not go beyond five hours every week per platform, "using the app-based economy when and where it works best for them," the publication reported.

"But like I said, the pandemic kind of messed it up," King added. "Before, especially with the van, it was not hard. It was not hard at all, and I used the van very well, but now I have a car. And like I said, due to the pandemic, but it's coming back, it's not all the way there." 

According to the Illinois Coalition for Independent Work, app-based ride-hailing drivers earn on average $36.63 per hour or $32.35 an hour without tips. These numbers were reported by DoorDash, Instacart, Lyft and Uber drivers in response to the poll fielded by the coalition between Jan. 1 to Jan 30 last year. For the purposes of calculating average hourly earnings, the coalition defined time worked "as beginning at the time a passenger or delivery is accepted by the driver until the trip or delivery is complete."

"As far as the traffic, as far as the business, as far as the conventions, as far as the activities, is coming back, but coming back slowly," King said. "So I just have to pace myself to get back where I want to be. As far as $3,000 to $4,000 a month." 

The minimum wage in Chicago is $15, "a higher minimum wage rate than the one set by Illinois or the Federal government," according to Minimum-Wage.org.

The Gig Economy Index presented by PYMNTS in 2019 reported that gig workers accounted for over $1.4 trillion of total U.S. income in 2018. The report also revealed that the share of gig workers bringing in upwards of $100,000 per year increased from 30% to 40% from the third to fourth quarter of 2018.