From hustle to harm: Exploring the uneven landscape of precarious employment in the gig economy

This study assesses precarious employment (PE) among Belgian gig workers by adapting the Employment Precariousness Scale (EPRES) for this population, using survey data from 397 workers. The resulting EPRES-gw (“gig work”) is evaluated for internal and external validity. External validity is defined as the ability to differentiate workers by time commitment and capturing sociodemographic and task-type variations. The scale demonstrates strong internal robustness and identifies sociodemographic differences in PE, although more convincingly among main gig workers (>24 hours/week) than supplementary workers (⩽24 hours/week). Overall, EPRES-gw is a valid and useful instrument for assessing PE in gig work.