The labor market has transformed with the advent of the gig economy, characterized by short-term and flexible work arrangements facilitated by online platforms. As this trend becomes increasingly prevalent, it presents unique opportunities and challenges. In this manuscript, we comprehensively characterize the social networks of gig economy workers in each of the 15 cities studied. Our analysis reveals a scaling relationship between networks and the city population. In particular, we note the high level of modularity of the networks, and we argue that it results from the natural specialization of couriers along different areas of the cities. Furthermore, we show that degree and betweenness centrality is positively correlated with income but not with tenure. Our findings shed new light on the social organization of the gig economy workers and provide valuable insights for the management and design of gig economy platforms.

随着零工经济的出现，劳动力市场发生了转变，其特点是在线平台推动的短期和灵活的工作安排。随着这种趋势变得越来越普遍，它带来了独特的机遇和挑战。在这份手稿中，我们全面描述了所研究的 15 个城市中零工经济工作者的社交网络。我们的分析揭示了网络与城市人口之间的比例关系。我们特别注意到网络的高度模块化，并且我们认为这是由于城市不同区域的快递员自然专业化的结果。此外，我们发现学位和介数中心性与收入呈正相关，但与任期无关。我们的研究结果为零工经济工作者的社会组织提供了新的视角，并为零工经济平台的管理和设计提供了宝贵的见解。