NEW YORK (AP) – There were the two-hour unpaid waits outside the supermarkets when San Francisco began to close, atop the heavy shopping bags that had to be carried countless ladders.
And yet, even after subscribing to various apps, 39-year-old Saori Okawa was still not making as much money delivering food and groceries as she was driving for the giant Uber before the pandemic occurred.
“I started juggling three apps to make ends meet,” said Okawa, who recently cut his work hours after receiving unemployment benefits. “It was really difficult, because at the time, I couldn’t afford to stay home because I had to pay the rent.”
Okawa is one of approximately 1.5 million so-called concert workers who make their living by driving people to airports, selecting products at grocery stores, or providing childcare for working parents. His had already been a precarious situation, largely without guarantees such as the minimum wage, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, and health and safety protections.
But with the pandemic hitting the global economy and unemployment in the United States reaching heights not seen since the Great Depression, clamor workers are demanding jobs that often pay less while facing stiff competition from a group of newly unemployed workers They also try to unite livelihoods, all while trying to avoid contracting the coronavirus themselves.
Unemployment in the United States fell to 11.1% in June, a depression-era level that, while lower than last month, could worsen after a surge in coronavirus cases, has led states to close restaurants and bars.
Marisa Martin, a law student in California, turned to Instacart when a state government summer job as a paralegal failed after a hiring freeze. She said she enjoys the flexibility of choosing her own schedule, but hopes she won’t have to go to work in the future. Payment is too volatile, with tips that vary greatly and sometimes work slowly, to make the risk of exposure to the virus worthwhile.
“We don’t get paid enough when we’re on the front lines interacting with multiple people on a daily basis,” said Martin, 24, who moved in with his parents temporarily to save money.
Alexandra Lopez-Djurovic, 26, was a full-time babysitter in a New York City suburb when one of the parents she works for lost her job while the other saw their hours cut off.
“Suddenly, as much as they want me to stay, they can’t pay me,” he said. His own hours were reduced to approximately eight per week.
To recoup lost wages, Lopez-Djurovic placed an ad featuring grocery delivery on a local Facebook group. During the night, she got 50 responses.
Lopez-Djurovic charges $ 30 an hour and coordinates email shopping lists, offering benefits that app companies don’t have, like checking milk’s expiration date before choosing which size to buy. Still, it doesn’t replace the salary you lost.
“One week I could have seven, eight, 10 families that I was buying,” said López-Djurovic. “I had a week when I had no money. It is definitely a challenge. “
Upwork, a website connecting skilled freelancers to jobs, has seen a 50% increase in both worker and employer registrations since the pandemic began, including spikes in jobs related to e-commerce and service. to the customer, said Adam Ozimek, chief economist at Upwork.
“When you need to make big changes quickly, a flexible workforce helps you,” he said.
Maya Pinto, a researcher with the National Employment Law Project, said that temporary and contract work grew during the Great Recession and that she expects many workers to look for those jobs again amid the current crisis.
But a greater dependence on temporary and contract work will have negative implications on the quality and safety of work because “it is a way of saving costs and transferring the risk to the worker,” Pinto said.
It is difficult to assess the overall picture of the concert economy during the pandemic, as some parts are expanding while others are contracting. Grocery delivery giant Instacart, for example, has brought 300,000 new contract buyers since March, more than double its workforce to 500,000. Meanwhile, Uber’s business fell 80% in April compared to last year, while Lyft fell 75% in the same period.
For food delivery applications, it has been a mixed bag. Although they’re taking a hit from restaurants offering more take-out options, those gains are offset by the overall decline in the restaurant industry during the pandemic.
Concert workers are also vying for those jobs from all fronts. DoorDash launched an initiative to help unemployed restaurant workers sign up for delivery work. Uber’s food delivery service, Uber Eats, grew 53% in the first quarter, and around 200,000 people have signed into the app per month since March, roughly 50% more than usual.
“Drivers are definitely exploring other options, but the problem is that there are 20 to 30 million people looking for a job right now,” said Harry Campbell, founder of The Rideshare Guy. “Sometimes I joke, all you need is a pulse and a car to get approved. But what that means is that for other people it’s also easy to get approval, so you have to compete in turns. “
Delivery jobs typically pay less than transportation jobs. Single mother Luz Laguna used to earn around $ 25 in half an hour driving passengers to Los Angeles International Airport. When those trips evaporated, Laguna began delivering meals through Uber Eats, working longer hours but making less money. The base payment is around $ 6 per delivery, and most people tip around $ 2, he said. To avoid spending more on childcare, she sometimes takes her 3-year-old child in labor.
“This is our only way out right now,” said Laguna. “It is difficult to handle, but that is the only job I can do as a single mother.”
Other drivers find it makes more sense to stay home and collect unemployment, a benefit they and other workers had not qualified for before the pandemic. They are also eligible to receive an additional $ 600 weekly check from the federal government, a benefit that was available to workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic. Taken together, that’s more than many transport drivers were doing before the pandemic, Campbell said.
But that $ 600 benefit will expire in late July, and the $ 2 billion government aid package that extended unemployment benefits to contract workers expires at the end of the year.
“Many drivers will have to sit down and decide, do I want to put myself and my family at risk once I don’t get government help?” Campbell said.
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