How the Gig Economy is Stepping Up To Help Americans Amid The Global COVID-19 Pandemic

Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Florida, April 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent article from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce highlighted how GIG economy companies are solving staffing problems for restaurants both for inside staffing and for now necessary delivery services… to keep revenues coming during the crisis. Amid the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home orders and national economic downturn, the nation's gig economy companies have become a fundamentally essential part of many Americans' daily lives – and an economic lifeline for many others. Not only are companies like Instacart, Postmates, and Uber delivering food and groceries to those in isolation, but GIG employees can also help restaurants solve their non-delivery staffing as well. Perhaps most importantly, these companies are also providing vital earnings opportunities to Americans who have lost hours or jobs amid the economic slowdown.  Active companies in the markets this week include ShiftPixy, Inc. (NASDAQ: PIXY), Grubhub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB), Slack Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: WORK), Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER), Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT).

Another industry publication said: "One of the reasons that gig economy has been so successful is that it satisfies consumer preference for products that are on-demand, convenient, and easy to use," said Toast CEO Chris Comparato in an article he wrote for Forbes about how the gig-economy could offer restaurants struggling with staffing an innovative solution to their struggle. With difficulties in restaurant staffing at an all-time high, a new labor market is redefining the way we find quality candidates: The gig economy. A shrinking labor pool makes it extremely difficult to source talent, and, even if you do find quality staff, there is still an unusually high employee turnover rate plaguing the industry. Employee recruitment and retention are frequently listed by restaurateurs as their top operational challenge, as cited in Toast's 2019 Restaurant Success Report. "The gig economy provides an easy way to access a flexible (and available) worker pool who can help restaurants quickly grow or shrink their workforces at low risk based on current demand," says Jenay Sellars, Director of Marketing at GigSmart.