Precarity Delivered: Digital Platforms and the Precarization of Work Among Delivery Workers of Digital Applications in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara

Abstract

This article will address the issue of precarity represented among delivery workers of digital platforms, primarily Uber Eats, but generally within the so-called gig economy, économie numérique (algorithmic economy, microtask economy, among other denominations) (Bernis and Guinsburg, 2019). Aiming to analyze the meanings, conditions, and work relationships within this emerging and increasingly consolidated population, a field study was conducted in the city of Guadalajara from 2020 to 2022. Some of the most relevant findings will be presented in this document, reviewing the characteristics and opinions of the delivery workers from their subjectivity. This aims to shed light on new debates regarding the impoverishment existing in these emerging and transforming occupations offered to young people, observing the precarity in the now-called “Industry 4.0,” or also referred to as the “fourth industrial revolution” (Yzunza et al., 2017).