The structure of work is shifting as digital platforms connect workers with opportunities in ways that resemble markets more than traditional employment. The Labor Economy is growing through systems that match supply and demand for work, even on an hourly basis, while also reshaping how and when people are paid.
Discussing findings from the latest Wage to Wallet Index, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster framed the divide. The research shows that employment alone does not define financial security.
“The data suggests that we’re not operating in a single labor market,” Webster said in a new Wage to Wallet podcast with WorkWhile and Ingo Payments executives, noting that financial confidence varies sharply between traditional workers and those in the Labor Economy. Stability of income, mobility and liquidity, she added, are the forces that shape confidence more than the mere existence of a job.
Those dynamics echo an economic principle that has guided markets for centuries. As WorkWhile CEO Simon Khalaf observed, the foundation of wealth creation has always been labor itself, which has been documented ever since Adam Smith penned his seminal Wealth of Nations in 1776. “It is through labor that all wealth has been established. It is not through gold nor silver. It is the hard work of people,” he said.
What has changed is how that labor is organized.
Wage Pressures Push Workers Toward More Hours
The Wage to Wallet data shows that wage growth has recently slipped below inflation. In response, many workers are not changing employers. Instead, they are increasing the number of hours they work.
Khalaf said his own platform’s data shows that workers have adjusted their behavior quickly.
“Our workers are working a little bit more, not changing jobs,” he told Webster. “They’ve traded wage growth with more working hours.”
That adjustment reflects a familiar reality for many households. According to Ingo Payments CEO Drew Edwards, the challenge of balancing income and expenses has long shaped hourly work. Hourly workers often struggle to make ends meet and work more than one job, Edwards said.
“Whether it was early customers we served or even people in my own family, hourly workers have always worked extra hours or more than one job to make ends meet,” he said.
But there’s been some easing of those pressures with the rise of platforms that allow workers to scale their hours more easily. Rather than searching for another employer, workers can add shifts across multiple opportunities. That flexibility, Edwards said, is important.
“When they venture out into side gigs or full time transactional work on a platform like Simon’s, they get more control,” he said. “They get the ability to manage when they work, how much they work, where they work.”
For companies like Ingo Payments, which provides payout infrastructure used by labor platforms and marketplaces, that shift toward flexible work is also changing expectations around how quickly workers get access to earnings and how reliably those funds arrive. Edwards noted that many traditional employment structures historically left workers with little control over schedules or income timing.
“In that world, [the employers] control when they work, how many hours they get and what they get paid,” he said of traditional employment systems. “That’s a scary place to be if you’re a worker.”
Platforms Turn Labor Into a Two-Sided Marketplace
Digital platforms are increasingly acting as two-sided marketplaces that match workers with employers. The structure resembles an open market where both sides can adjust quickly to supply and demand.
Edwards described that dynamic in simple terms.
“I believe in the free market economy,” he said, as platforms afford workers “the opportunity to actually find market wage rate based on true supply and demand.”
Platforms such as WorkWhile illustrate how that system functions in practice. Workers can accept shifts based on total pay rather than hourly rates, while employers can adjust compensation in real time when labor demand spikes.
Some of those spikes occur in unexpected places. Khalaf offered a practical example.
“If you’ve got an event for Taylor Swift and you need bartenders, you’re going to hire bartenders,” from the WorkWhile platform, he said.
The point is that labor demand can surge quickly. Platforms make it easier for workers to respond.
Why Speed of Pay Matters
Another defining feature of the Labor Economy is the growing importance of payment speed. For workers managing tight household budgets, the timing of pay can matter as much as the amount.
Edwards explained that the decision between taking a loan or working additional shifts often hinges on when funds become available.
“When they’re sitting there with that unexpected expense and evaluating whether to go find a loan or do more work, inherent in that decision is ‘when will I get paid,’” Edwards said.
That need has accelerated the adoption of modern payment rails.
Edwards said workers are increasingly willing to pay for faster payouts when it helps them solve immediate pressures.
“These are the triggers that affect whether they’re willing to pay for speed or wait on their funds,” he said, pointing to unexpected expenses such as car repairs or emergency bills that require immediate liquidity.
“They’re managing a cash flow situation, not unlike we do in business,” Edwards added.
Same-day pay has therefore become a central feature of platform-based labor systems.
The Stickiness of Platform Work
Another insight from the Wage to Wallet discussion is that workers are not constantly switching platforms or employers. Instead, they often return repeatedly to the same opportunities.
“Our continuation rate is very high,” Khalaf said, noting that February averaged about 98%. That level of recurrence suggests that workers value the reliability of these systems. Many participants now treat platforms as a stable component of their income strategy.
AI Enters the Labor Marketplace
Artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to shape how these labor platforms operate. Khalaf said predictive algorithms can now identify job demand and help workers match their skills with opportunities.
WorkWhile recently introduced a tool designed to help workers discover transferable abilities. The system can identify soft skills that qualify someone for roles they may not have previously considered.
“You’d be surprised how many bartenders we have discovered among drivers,” Khalaf said.
Looking ahead, Khalaf believes AI can act as a digital assistant that helps workers manage both income and expenses.
“That’s what AI is great at. It’s predicting the job market,” he told Webster.
A New Structure for Work
The rise of platforms, instant payments and AI-driven matching tools is gradually reshaping the Labor Economy.
For companies such as Ingo Payments, the shift is also expanding financial visibility for workers.
As the Wage to Wallet Index suggests, the Labor Economy is not defined solely by employment. It is defined by access to opportunity, the timing of income and the tools that help workers navigate both.
“This thing you’re building is bringing them into the light,” Edwards said, referring to workers who historically operated outside traditional financial systems.
