An Uber Eats courier is seen in Krakow, Poland on June 22, 2022.

For an early riser like Adalgisa Payero-Diarra, 1 p.m. would usually be the time she calls it a day, eight hours after beginning to zip around New York City in her black Toyota Camry. Once the afternoon hits, she takes a couple of hours off, before getting ready to make dinner for her husband and kids.

But these days, any rest time is a bonus. To reach her daily earning target of $250 to $300, the 44-year-old mother of four now has to drive until 4 or 5 p.m., rush home, do the housework, and check on her children’s homework, before she goes to bed exhausted—six times a week.

“It puts a strain on me,” said Payero-Diarra, who has been driving for Uber and Lyft since 2019. That couple of hours driving instead of resting could be a matter of life and death for workers like Payero-Diarra. But she has little choice. One of her daughters is a senior in high school, leaving her worried about impending college bills. Gas prices for two days’ worth of rides have nearly doubled to $80 from $45 at the start of the year, she said. Plus there are groceries to worry about: Food prices in New York spiked by more than 9 percent in June compared to the previous year.

Payero-Diarra is one of the millions of gig workers worldwide that have been struggling to make ends meet as fuel and food prices soar due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. While falling from its peak, Brent crude oil prices have still gone from below $70 per...

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