Nearly 2 million Brazilians worked through service apps in 2025, according to figures released on Friday by the IBGE, Brazil's national statistics institute. Their average monthly pay is almost identical to that of other private sector workers, but they work longer weeks and each hour pays 12% less. In practice, a driver or courier only reaches the same wage by working more hours for it.
Of the total, 1.8 million relied on apps as their main job and 182,000 as a side income, according to news website G1. They account for 1.9% of Brazil's 102.4 million employed workers. The Southeast region concentrates 55.3% of them, about 1.08 million people.
Ride-hailing is the biggest slice: 1.2 million people, or 58.9%, drive for passenger apps such as Uber and 99. Delivery apps come next, used by 29.9%, a group that ranges from couriers to people selling their own products. A smaller share, 313,000 people (16%), offers general or professional services through apps, from house cleaning to telemedicine, according to state news agency Agência Brasil.
The group is growing fast. Counting only those who list apps as their main occupation, the only measure comparable with previous years, the number went from 1.3 million in 2022 to 1.8 million in 2025, a rise of 36.8% in three years and 9.1% in the past year. Even so, they are just 2% of private sector workers, though in transport, warehousing and postal services three out of every four workers already use apps.
The context: the PNAD Contínua is Brazil's largest employment survey, carried out by the IBGE through household interviews. A platform worker is someone who provides a service through an app that connects worker and client, and that app can set prices, assign clients, deadlines and even working hours, as G1 explains. In this survey, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Marketplace do not count as platforms, and the series is still experimental, so the IBGE warns the 2 million total cannot be compared with the 2022 and 2024 editions.
Same pay, longer hours
Average monthly income from app work was R$ 3,147 in 2025, virtually the same as the R$ 3,148 of other private sector workers and slightly above two monthly minimum wages. The gap shows up in hours: 44.7 per week, against 39.3 for the others, according to G1. That is 5.4 extra hours a week, close to 24 extra hours a month, nearly three full workdays.
Per hour, app work paid R$ 16.20, compared with R$ 18.40 for other workers, a 12% discount. According to Agência Brasil, the figures represent what is left after costs such as fuel and car maintenance. From 2022 to 2025, platform workers' income moved just 1%, while other workers gained 10.6%.
Who they are, and why
Most app workers are men (84.4%) and 47% are between 25 and 39 years old. Nearly 9 in 10 (86.8%) are self-employed, only 4.5% hold a formal contract, and informality, meaning no signed work card or business registration, reaches 72.1%, nearly double the rate of other workers (42.7%). Only 34% contribute to social security, against 63% of non-platform workers.
The most cited reasons for working through apps were schedule flexibility (26.8%), not finding another job (24.6%) and better pay than the alternatives (20.8%). Among ride-hailing drivers and couriers specifically, failing to find other work was the top reason. Dependence runs deep: 62.7% work exclusively through platforms, and 38.8%, or 701,000 people, nearly 4 in 10, rely on a single app.
The IBGE itself summed up the two sides of the picture, through analyst Gustavo Geaquinto Fontes.
"Platforms have offered income opportunities for many workers and have allowed companies to reach new markets and cut costs. On the other hand, they pose a major challenge for working conditions," said Fontes.