The number of people doing platform gig work like deliveries on apps in the US grew by over 150% during the pandemic. The researchers used tax data from 90 gig economy platforms and apps for their analysis. "COVID was a watershed moment for a particular type of platform gig work, which is delivery work," Koustas said. Gig workers became younger and more female; 44% of transportation and delivery platform workers were female by 2021, per the working paper. While platform gig work climbed during the pandemic, a research brief about the working paper results states that other contract and freelance work fell during COVID.

---

Persons: Dmitri Koustas, COVID, Koustas Organizations: Service, The University of Chicago Harris School of Public, McKinsey, Workers, Economic Policy Institute Locations: Wall, Silicon, United States