OSHA workplace inspections

OSHA workplace inspections and Uber plus Lyft combined US rides have, between 2017 and 2023, risen together at a correlation of 0.947. The relationship between workplace safety audits and rideshare usage is, as statistical claims go, a triumph of spreadsheet over meaning. Both are simply measurements that climbed through the same seven years.

OSHA inspections rose from around 32,000 in 2017 to over 34,000 by 2023 after a pandemic-era dip, reflecting normal regulatory activity plus some post-pandemic catch-up. Uber and Lyft combined rides grew from 2.6 billion to over 5.5 billion in the same window, with a steep 2020 collapse and rapid recovery. Both trends are products of the same period's labor-market expansion and mobility rebound, each rising for reasons specific to their own sectors. The inspector and the driver are not coordinating schedules.

Seven years of two lines rising together can describe two entirely separate regulatory and commercial trends moving in parallel. The workplace audit and the Saturday night ride share no supervisor. Both came back after 2020.