RAPID: Work in the Time of COVID-19

零工工作通常在Uber，TaskRabbit，Instacart，Care.com和Rover等平台上进行，是不稳定工作的缩影：工作是如此临时，以至于“零工”可能只持续几分钟，工人-通常被归类为独立承包商-完全处于工人赔偿，社会保障缴款，带薪休假或医疗保险的社会安全网之外。传统上，低收入工人在美国自然灾害中的身体、心理和经济状况都更差。此外，虽然白色白领和专业工作人员通过Zoom远程工作，但他们在家庭办公室的相对安全性，越来越多的临时工和临时工被要求确保他们的中产阶级和中上阶层在家工作的同事随时获得食物，药品和卫生纸。在疫情前线工作的不稳定工人队伍预计只会增加。该项目将研究冠状病毒大流行对加剧不稳定和零工工人现有脆弱性的影响。该项目还将研究从事基本工作的不稳定工人如何权衡和解决工作的健康风险与失业的经济影响，以及流行病和由此产生的经济衰退如何影响工人对自由职业者或零工工作的可取性的看法。该项目的调查结果将有助于在影响零工工人的几个层面上为政府政策提供信息，以及可能考虑在世纪采用或拒绝零工的劳动力参与者。COVID-19疫情对零工的工作条件提出了挑战，根据定义，零工在完成任务时无法保持社交距离。该项目是一项混合方法的小组研究，将对200名在新冠肺炎爆发早期中心纽约市的不稳定和零工工人进行深入访谈和调查。参与者将包括通过在线平台找到工作的零工，创意领域的自由职业者以及快餐和零售工人。第一阶段将在2020年4月至6月期间进行，这一时期恰逢纽约市疫情的预期高峰期，并将研究工人如何应对这些风险，以及疫情如何影响他们的生活和对工作的理解。后续访谈和调查将在2020年秋季进行，与预期的第二次疫情同时进行，并将提供一个机会来研究《大流行性失业法案》和经济刺激措施对零工工人的影响。该项目的调查结果将为关于不稳定工作、工作满意度和工作流动性的社会学理论提供信息。 调查结果还将为关于零工工人之间以及他们与更传统工作的工人之间在美国就业社会安全网方面存在差异的理论提供信息。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估而被认为值得支持。

Gig work, which is often conducted on platforms such as Uber, TaskRabbit, Instacart, Care.com, and Rover, is the epitome of precarious work: the work is so temporary that a 'gig' may last only a few minutes, and workers -- who are usually classified as independent contractors -- are entirely outside the social safety net of workers’ compensation, social security contributions, paid leave, or health insurance. Traditionally, low-income workers have fared worse physically, psychologically, and economically in U.S. natural disasters. Also, while white collar and professional workers conduct their work remotely via Zoom, working from the relative safety of their home offices, gig and temporary workers are increasingly being called on to ensure ready access to food, medicine, and toilet paper for their middle and upper middle class work-from-home peers. And the ranks of precarious workers on the frontlines of the pandemic are only expected to grow. This project will examine the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on exacerbating the existing vulnerability of precarious and gig workers. This project will additionally examine how precarious workers in essential jobs are weighing, and addressing, the health risks of working versus the economic repercussions of unemployment, and how the pandemic, and resulting recession, may affect worker views of the desirability of freelance or gig-based work. Findings from the project will help to inform governmental policies at several levels affecting gig workers, as well as labor force participants who may be considering adoption or rejection of gig work in the 21st century. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the working conditions of gig workers who, by definition, cannot practice social distancing when completing their tasks. This project, a mixed-methods panel study, will utilize in-depth interviews and surveys with 200 precarious and gig workers in New York City (NYC), the early epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. Participants will include gig workers who find work via online platforms, freelance workers in creative fields, and fast food and retail workers. The first phase will be conducted between April and June 2020, a period that coincides with the expected peak of the outbreak in NYC, and will examine how workers are coping with these risks, and how the pandemic is shaping their lives and understandings of their work. Follow-up interviews and surveys will be conducted during Fall 2020, concurrent with the expected second outbreak, and will provide an opportunity to study the impact of the Pandemic Unemployment Act and economic stimulus checks on gig workers. Findings from the project will inform sociological theories regarding precarious work, job satisfaction, and job mobility. Findings will also inform theories regarding differential access to the U.S. employment social safety net that appear among gig workers, as well as between them and workers in more conventional jobs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.