Platform workers show strong demand for credit and solid repayment records, but lenders keep turning them away
A major new study from TransUnion is pushing back against longstanding assumptions about the creditworthiness of gig economy workers in Canada, finding that most platform and task-based workers are financially responsible borrowers whose profiles look far more like the general population than lenders tend to assume.
The report, "The Gig Economy in Canada: Rethinking Credit Risk, Inclusion, and Market Opportunity," examines a segment that now accounts for roughly 11% of Canada's workforce.
One of the study's standout findings is that gig work is, for the majority of participants, an add-on rather than a lifeline. Six in ten surveyed gig workers also hold full-time salaried or hourly employment, using platform income to top up household finances. Nearly four in ten report clearing between $1,000 and more than $4,000 per month after expenses from their gig activity.
Millennials make up the largest share of the gig workforce at 34%, followed by Gen X at 27% and Gen Z at 17%.
Despite common perceptions linking irregular income with elevated default risk, the data tells a more nuanced story. Among surveyed gig workers, 68% fall into prime or better credit risk categories, compared to 73% of the broader credit-active population, a relatively modest gap. Meanwhile, 64% of gig workers say they meet their payment obligations without difficulty.
The study does flag some areas of greater financial strain: 36% of gig workers report facing payment challenges, against 22% in the general population. But the research frames this as a reason for more individualized credit assessment rather than blanket risk aversion.
"Gig workers are a material and growing borrower segment who may be perceived as having riskier, volatile income trends and inconsistent payment behaviours," said Matt Fabian, senior director of research and consulting for Canada at TransUnion. "They may face significantly higher friction, such as higher interest rates, lower credit limits, and process complexity during credit applications as gig income may often be excluded from formal assessments — but our findings show that perceptions about these consumers may be misplaced."
A market opportunity lenders are missing
Beyond the credit risk question, the study points to an underserved population with a clear appetite for financial products.
Some 35% of gig workers applied for new credit or refinancing in the past six months, and 36% plan to do so in the next 12 months compared to just 22% of all credit-active consumers with similar intentions.
Their participation in traditional credit products is broadly comparable to the wider population. Some 31% hold lines of credit versus 38% in the general population, and 22% carry auto loans against 23% across the broader market.
Gig workers actually outpace the general population in mortgage ownership (34% versus 29%) and in personal loans, where participation runs at 22% compared to 11%, patterns the study attributes partly to the role gig income plays in supporting major financial commitments and managing cash flow variability.
However, nearly half of gig workers report hitting obstacles when they apply for credit. Difficulty rates vary across generations but overall the most commonly cited barriers are complex application processes, unfavorable pricing or terms, questions raised by income variability, and an inability to provide standard documentation such as pay stubs.
"While gig workers show strong demand for credit products, the study suggests that many are not served to their full potential by lenders," Fabian said. "This is despite the fact that a large share of gig workers already hold credit products and appear to have good risk scores that tend to be broadly in line with the performance of the general population of credit-active consumers."
Gig work is here to stay
The study also challenges the idea that platform work is a stopgap. Some 71% of gig workers say they have no plans to leave this type of work in the near term, with 34% expecting to maintain their current hours and 20% planning to increase their participation.
"As gig work has become an ongoing supplementary income source for many, the wider credit industry has an opportunity to rethink how these consumers are evaluated and to broaden credit inclusion by refining how non-traditional income is assessed within existing risk and process frameworks," Fabian said. "Adapting to consumers' evolving profiles by including alternative data, for example, could better meet the needs of more Canadian consumers while driving sustainable, long-term growth for lenders."
The study was conducted in March 2026 among 500 gig workers in Canada.
