HELEN HASN’T TAKEN a day off in weeks. Since the novel coronavirus crisis began, she’s taken countless trips to the grocery store as an Instacart shopper, ferrying bags of food to people for what amounts to a little more than minimum wage. Recently, a group of Instacart shoppers staged a nationwide strike, demanding that the company provide higher wages, along with benefits like hazard pay and sick leave. Helen supports those demands but says she “literally couldn’t afford to take the day off.” (She asked not to use her last name for fear of retaliation.) It’s not just out-of-pocket payments for gas, car insurance, and all the rest. She also has to pay for her own health insurance and dip into her savings to take a sick day. “I’m just saving as much as possible during the feast, because I know it’ll be back to famine soon enough.”
The gig economy has been like this for years, with some workers scrambling to make ends meet sans traditional benefits. And it’s not just gig workers. While on-demand jobs represent a small sliver of the economy, Gallup estimates that as many as one-third of Americans rely on alternative work arrangements, piecing together a paycheck from various clients or customers.
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