Gig apps for a pandemic economy: Part time, no commitment

By UROOBA JAMAL
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — A breed of gig apps tailored for short-term work slots — from Stint to Instawork to Gigpro — is gaining popularity in the United Kingdom as well as in the United States as one response to the peculiar ways in which economies have been rebounding from the pandemic recession. Uncertainty about the durability of the recoveries and the tentative re-openings of businesses still threatened by the coronavirus have made flexibility a top priority — for workers and employees alike. As the hospitality industry, in particular, confronts worker shortages, these apps are helping form an ultra-short-term worker-employee relationship, something that hasn’t widely existed in recent decades.