Payment Friction Costs Gig Workers Jobs and Income: Thunes Study

A new study from payments network Thunes and Juniper Research puts a number on a problem gig workers already live with. Cross-border payment friction costs them real income.

Among gig workers who receive international payments, 11% said they had lost or turned down job opportunities because of delays and fees. That is nearly three times the 4% rate among non-gig workers surveyed. The study, which polled 10,000 adults across ten countries in April 2026, frames the issue as a structural gap between fast domestic payment systems and slow cross-border rails.

The headline figures go beyond gig workers. Among all remittance-dependent respondents, 82% reported at least one material consequence from payment friction. That includes missed essential bills and mental health stress. Separately, 42% described stress or anxiety directly linked to unpredictable cross-border transactions.

The gig economy dimension is structurally worse. 63% of gig workers send or receive money internationally, compared with 27% of non-gig workers. They are also twice as likely to experience volatile month-to-month income. A delayed payment can directly disrupt their capacity to take on further work.

Transparency is another failure point. Four in ten senders reported receiving a different final amount than they expected. Among 18 to 24 year olds, 49% said they received no upfront cost clarity at all.

Chloe Mayenobe, deputy chief executive of Thunes, said: "This data exposes a brutal truth: the cross-border 'friction tax' is a parasite on the global economy, and the cost is being paid by those who can least afford it."

Thunes describes the gap as a "Digital Mobility Divide". Fast and reliable international payments are becoming a precondition for participation in the global labour market. Where that access is absent, the effect is not inconvenience but a concrete reduction in earning potential.

The findings land against a longstanding G20 commitment to reduce remittance costs. The G20 target, set in 2011 and repeatedly renewed, is to bring the global average cost of sending remittances below 3% of the transaction value by 2030. World Bank data shows progress. The average remains above that threshold in many corridors. Regulatory compliance costs and correspondent banking de-risking contribute to the gap. Fragmented domestic clearing adds another layer.

Interoperability frameworks are advancing in several regions. The migration to ISO 20022 in wholesale payments and the BIS Nexus multilateral platform model are steps forward. The EU's move to mandatory instant credit transfers under its revised Payment Services Regulation is another. Bilateral linkages between real-time payment systems across ASEAN and parts of Africa are closing specific corridors. A globally coherent interoperability layer does not yet exist.

For commercial payments operators, the report is a reminder that infrastructure gaps are not merely a reputational or social issue. They represent a ceiling on revenue in the gig economy vertical. Platforms such as Uber and Grab, both named as Thunes network members, depend on reliable cross-border worker payouts as part of their operating model. When a driver in the Philippines cannot cash out reliably, the platform loses a worker for the next shift. The 11% job-loss rate among gig workers suggests a measurable drag on platform supply.

The full Thunes Cross-border Payments Interoperability Index, which benchmarks markets across five dimensions using World Bank data, is available via the Thunes website.