Gig workers get help as relief efforts catch up with the times
Diana Petra Kicherer had to stop teaching her usual 10 weekly classes in Geneva when yoga studios were closed during a nationwide shutdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
With no income coming in, she was relieved when the Swiss government offered assistance for selfemployed workers like herself, who now make up roughly 10% of the labor force in the country. She filled out an online application in 10 minutes and the money arrived three weeks later.
“As independent people, we don’t have insurance,” Kicherer said. “I never thought I would be on state help.” The support is “absolutely amazing,” she said.
With governments bracing for economic contractions and joblessness not seen since the Great Depression, more of them are doling out part of their $8 trillion-plus stimulus to prop up the gig economy _ supporting part-time and freelance workers who generally lack a safety net.
Countries like the U.K., U.S., France, Singapore and Australia are going well beyond the fiscal aid delivered during the 200809 financial crisis to target a part of the labor market that now makes up onethird of the global workforce, according to estimates from the International Labor Organization. The Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Japan have also allocated support for self-employed people.
It’s in part an acknowledgment of the change the labor market has undergone in the past decade as gig jobs surged with the emergence of digital platforms like Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc. For governments, the programs are an additional cost pressure on stretched budgets, but ignoring this key part of the workforce would have dire consequences for peoples’ livelihoods and the wider economy.
“Considering the number of self-employed people in total employment, their economic contribution and their exposure _ especially large numbers in informal sector _ if they do not receive targeted support, the economic and social outcomes would certainly be more devastating,” said Dragan Radic, the head of the small and medium-sized enterprises unit at the Geneva-based ILO.
In low and middle-income economies, where informal markets tend to be bigger, self-employed people make up a sizable chunk of the labor force, according to the ILO.