iFood had 538 thousand active delivery people in September 2022 – 11/30/2023 – Market

A study carried out by Fipe (Fundação Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas) for iFood shows that the application had 537.9 thousand people registered as delivery people at some point between October 2021 and September 2022.

In the study, Fipe sought to analyze the direct, indirect and induced effects of the activity led by the delivery app and also the position of delivery drivers in the job market. iFood releases the analysis this Friday (1st).

The number of couriers with an active profile on the application was around 212 thousand per month during the period analyzed. On average, each person worked 4.73 months on the platform. Together, these workers received R$2.41 billion, according to the study.

The analysis carried out by Fipe also points out that the application delivery activities and the chain impacted by these services generated, in 2022, R$97 billion. The activity also generated around 873 thousand jobs.

The analysis considered the use of inputs from various parts of Brazil in the production of an order made through the application as indirect effects. The direct ones are the easiest to see: the generation of income for the restaurant that sells through the platform.

The induced effects, according to Fipe, capture the impacts resulting from consumption, such as the increase in income of everyone who is directly (who produced what was ordered through the application) or indirectly affected by this network.

According to the study, for every R$1,000 spent on the platform, another R$1,385 is generated for the economy by stimulating production in other sectors.

In tax collection, R$1,127 in additional indirect taxes are generated for every R$1,000 in expenses on the application. For every hundred direct jobs, another 68 are created.

For Erica Diniz Oliveira, chief economist at iFood, the analysis allows us to see the “big gear” behind the connections made between consumers and restaurants and between these establishments and delivery people.

According to the Fipe study, the total money moved through the ecosystem of companies and activities involved is equivalent to 0.53% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Two years earlier, in another analysis carried out by Fipe, this percentage was 0.43%.

Oliveira says that the progress results from changes in the work model. The app today has more establishment options (in addition to restaurants, pharmacies and supermarkets) and is in more cities.

The study also states that delivery costs trigger “a set of activities that provide greater generation of production in the country and regions, in addition to greater local internalization of benefits”.

According to the Fipe report, for every R$1,000 received by delivery people, R$1,210 is added to the economy.

Earnings consider income from iFood and other sources of income and only consider deliveries made through the application. Restaurants and other establishments registered on the platform can use their own delivery services — these correspond to 60% of orders placed through iFood.

Research carried out by Cebrap (Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning) for Amobitec (Brazilian Mobility and Technology Association), of which iFood is a part, shows that only 52% of delivery drivers work only with deliveries. Their average working hours are 3.3 days per week.

Currently, iFood and other applications are discussing parameters for regulating work mediated by applications in a federal government working group.

Luana Ozemela, vice president of social impact at iFood, says that the economic effect is one of the platform’s pillars for the ecosystem of companies and people affected by its activities.

It is through the social impact sector that the application has been implementing literacy policies for delivery drivers, granting credit to commercial establishments and encouraging black entrepreneurs (pilot project called iFood Believe, in Salvador).