Open AccessThe Side Hustle Safety Net: Precarious Workers and Gig Work during COVID-19
Author(s) -
Alexandrea J. Ravenelle,
Ken Cai Kowalski,
Erica Janko
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
sociological perspectives
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.701
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1533-8673
pISSN - 0731-1214
DOI - 10.1177/07311214211005489
Subject(s) - unemployment , social distance , limiting , safety net , pandemic , precarious work , work (physics) , gig economy , sociology , covid-19 , public relations , business , demographic economics , political science , precarity , economic growth , economics , gender studies , engineering , medicine , law , mechanical engineering , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
While social distancing measures are essential in limiting the impact of a pandemic, such measures are often less feasible for low-income groups such as precarious workers who continue to travel on public transit and are less able to practice social distancing measures. In this paper, based on in-depth remote interviews conducted from April 2020 through June 2020, with more than 130 gig and precarious workers in New York City, we find that precarious workers experience three main hurdles in regard to accessing unemployment assistance that can be broadly categorized as knowledge, sociological, and temporal/financial barriers. Drawing on worker interview responses, we have named these responses: (1) Didn’t Know, (2) Didn’t Want, and (3) Can’t Wait. These challenges have led workers to turn to gig and precarious work, further highlighting the inequities of the pandemic. As a result, for some workers, so-called “side hustles” have become their primary social safety net.