Food and goods delivery platforms employed nearly 13,000 workers in Hong Kong, with many of them working as cyclists to make their deliveries, according to the results of a government survey released on Monday.

The survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department from December 2023 to March 2024 showed that 12,900 persons took up work with the digital platforms, with about a third of them reporting working for more than one platform.   

The survey showed that more than half (52.5 percent) were in younger age group (aged 15-39) while 24.2 percent were aged 50 and over. Nearly 65 percent said their delivery job was their main source of income.

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Over a third of the workers (37.1 percent) reported earning at least HK$15,000 ($1,930) a month, 26.1 percent received between HK$5,000 and HK$14,999, while 34.9 percent said they earned less than HK$5,000, according to the survey.  

Nearly all (98.2 percent) of them were able to arrange their own working hours, with nearly a third working less than 25 hours a week while 24.9 percent said they spent more than 44 hours a week on the job.

About half of them (51.6 percent) received two to three orders per hour, with 29.1 percent working as cyclists, 26.5 percent as walkers, 22.7 percent as motorcyclists, and 21.6 percent as van drivers to deliver their goods.  

About three-quarters reported having reward and penalty mechanisms for them to make their deliveries on time.

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The three most commonly cited criteria of giving reward were “high order acceptance rate” (50.2 percent), “punctuality” (49.7 percent) and “high online rate” (40.3 percent), according to the survey.

On the other hand, “customer complaint” (39.7 percent) and “late delivery” (36.1 percent) were the two most common criteria of imposing penalty, the survey added.