Small Businesses Are Embracing the Freelance Gig Economy During COVID-19 Crisis. Here’s Why

As people limit their ventures out and restaurants are forced to go takeout-only in many cities, food delivery services are seeing an explosion in demand during the pandemic.

Instacart, which delivers for grocers including Safeway and Aldi, saw the highest ever customer demand on its platform last weekend, and has the most “shoppers,” that they’ve ever had, according to the platform.

The boom in food delivery services is the opposite of what other GIG platforms are experiencing with Covid-19, as Uber driving earnings fall and Congress’s pandemic aid package which mostly didn’t cover GIG workers, according to an article in Bloomberg Law.

Research from LinkedIn and Intuit indicates the gig economy is here to stay. That’s good news for most small businesses. There’s never been stronger freelance talent to choose from, in so many skill sets and professions, than today. If you own or manage a small business, you’d be hard-pressed to identify a need you couldn’t fill with a freelancer. Freelance platforms like Fiverr, Upwork and Fabrito have seen a surge in its user base. Active companies in the markets this week include ShiftPixy, Inc. (NASDAQ: PIXY), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: APRN), Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX), Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT).

The Freelancers Union’s annual report found that up to 55 million people this year – representing 35% of the total US workforce – are in the freelance workforce. The research anticipates a record 43% of the workforce taking part in the gig economy by 2020.

LinkedIn’s research also supports an increased supply of freelance hours: The LinkedIn article continued: “As small businesses embrace the gig economy, owners and managers can hire freelancers to take on specific scopes of work in specified timeframes.

When you assign your contracted worker to a pressing short-term project, it eases the stress and workload of your staff. It also brings more flexibility and agility to your budgeting. When you need to scale up or down, your hiring can reflect that without the traditional overhead that comes with employees.”

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