Gig economy workers and Amazon staff are increasingly dependent on food stamps and Medicaid, says federal report

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In a nutshell: Working at Amazon or being part of the gig economy certainly isn't fun. According to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), it's these jobs that have seen the number of people relying on food stamps and Medicaid explode over the last five years.

The GAO report, which was commissioned by Senator Bernie Sanders, shows that the number of Amazon workers relying on food stamps and Medicaid tripled between the start of the Covid pandemic in February 2020 and September 2025.

It's an equally depressing situation for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, GrubHub, and Instacart drivers. App-based food delivery and ride-hailing platforms are the number one category of work in which employees receive food stamps. Gig economy drivers also rank third when it comes to Medicaid representation. Five years ago, the category barely registered in the GAO's data.