Daniel Altman, Instawork Chief Economist
Recent Posts
Career paths in flexible work
Key takeaways
- Flexible workers can pick up skills and experience that offer career advancement outside of traditional channels.
- Career paths include movement to higher-wage roles and from shift work to permanent hires.
- Flexible work can be a "try-before-you-buy" recruiting tool as well as a source of temporary labor.
How expanding our business network improves outcomes for hourly work
Key takeaways
- When more businesses join the Instawork platform, network effects bring benefits to existing partners as well.
- These benefits include higher fill rates, higher-quality workers, and higher satisfaction with completed shifts.
- The benefits are connected to the diversification of our business partners and not just higher volumes of shifts on our platform.
Monthly Labor Market Report - June 2022
Every day, the Instawork platform handles thousands of transactions involving businesses and hourly professionals, generating a huge amount of data on hourly pay as well as other aspects of the labor market. This report summarizes some of the major trends in demographics, roles, and worker constraints in regions across the United States.
How high gas prices affect in-person hourly workers
Key takeaways
- Workers have been traveling further to complete shifts this year than at the same time last year.
- But workers are not willing to travel as far this year for the same pay, reflecting the pressure of higher prices.
- Businesses will have to pay more to induce workers to make longer commutes.
The premiums for night, weekend, and holiday shifts
Key takeaways
- In general, workers expect higher rates of hourly pay for shifts that take place during nights, weekends, and holidays.
- These premiums are highest in hospitality and lowest in industries related to non-perishable goods, including logistics and retail.
- For businesses that can't raise pay any more right now, a variety of other factors can make shifts more attractive to workers.
ECEC Release Briefing: Business Costs June 2022
Transactions on the Instawork platform track the wages paid to hourly workers and the total cost of their shifts to local businesses. This briefing focuses on costs to businesses for dozens of occupations in regions across the United States, in parallel with the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data used in this briefing may include data on future shifts that have been booked on the Instawork platform but have not yet taken place.
Monthly Labor Market Report - May 2022
Every day, the Instawork platform handles thousands of transactions involving businesses and hourly professionals, generating a huge amount of data on hourly pay as well as other aspects of the labor market. This report summarizes some of the major trends in demographics, roles, and worker constraints in regions across the United States.
Can people on unemployment benefits earn more by working part-time?
Key takeaways
- Workers on unemployment benefits are allowed to work part-time in most jurisdictions, but local rules affect their net incomes.
- Some states' benefit structures may discourage part-time work, which could adversely affect the economy.
- In particular, flexible work is becoming part of the job search process as workers and businesses try each other out.
Has pay for flexible work kept up with prices?
Key takeaways
- Prices for consumers have risen rapidly over the past year, but hourly pay hasn't always kept up.
- In warehouse work, the paths of hourly pay adjusted for inflation have differed widely across metropolitan areas.
- Chicago is unique in the degree to which increases in pay have easily outpaced inflation, possibly due to a shrinking labor supply.
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