A10| Saturday/Sunday, March 21 - 22, 2020 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
ing money for rent and food,”
said Ali Tahir, of Austin, Texas,
who operates a small catering
business and works as an event
bartender. The two gigs are his
only source of income and both
are essentially shut down.
He thinks he can’t file for un-
employment benefits because,
like many low-wage and gig-
workers, he is self-employed
and therefore ineligible.
Mr. Tahir, 35, was counting
on making at least $4,000 this
month with work surrounding
South by Southwest, a weeklong
music and film festival that
drew 400,000 people last year.
This year’s event was canceled.
March is normally his busiest
month, and the losses are a
blow to his income, which was
about $24,000 last year.
His catering work often in-
volves cooking in private homes.
“No one really wants you to
come to their house and cook
right now,” he said.
His roommate is a computer
programmer who is working
from home. “For him, this is a
thing on the news ticker,” he
said. “For me, it’s really some-
thing to worry about.”
Millions of professionals have
been able to hunker down in
home offices, insulating them-
selves from the contagion risks
posed by commutes and col-
leagues. But interacting with
others is part of the job for re-
tail and food-service workers.
“So much of customer ser-
vice has to do with, not you be-
ing comfortable, but you making
them feel comfortable,” said Mr.
Schaffer, the pawnshop worker,
who said he makes around
$23,000ayear.“Youhavetobe
close to them. You have to shake
hands. You have to have this
personal-feeling relationship.”
Sick leave is a rarity among
these jobs. Of the lowest 10% of
wage earners, 69% didn’t have
sick leave last year, according to
the Labor Department. That
compares with 6% of the top
10% of wage earners lacking the
benefit. In the accommodation
and food services sector, 55% of
workers don’t have sick leave.
In the recovery after the
2007-09 recession, hospitality
jobs have grown nearly 50%
faster than the whole private
sector, Labor Department data
showed. That eventually pulled
in parts of the workforce that
were the last to benefit from the
expansion: African-Americans,
Latinos and those with lower
levels of education, who now
have near record low unemploy-
ment rates.
Wages for low earners grew
slowly at the beginning of the
expansion, but in the past year
grew at a faster rate than higher
earners, according to the At-
lanta Federal Reserve.
“There’s a last-in, first-out
problem,” Lisa Cook, an econo-
mist at Michigan State Univer-
sity, said. “The economic effects
of this virus are going to have a
substantial impact on low-wage
workers, who are disproportion-
ately women, African-Americans
and Latinos, and it’s going to
happen quickly.”
Before the crisis hit, things
were just getting easier for 41-
year-old Erin Schumacher, who
worked as a server at two Seat-
tle restaurants, making around
$45,000 a year.
She usually had two shifts a
week at Etta’s, a seafood restau-
rant, and three or four at Seri-
ous Pie, a pizza place with an
Amazon worker crowd. She was
working enough hours to qualify
for health insurance, which
kicked in last month, and began
saving a little.
Both restaurants closed their
doors for at least eight weeks.
She already is attempting to
work out payment plans for
medical bills and rent.
“I started a 401(k) and paid
off some credit cards and stu-
dent loans,” she said. “And now
it’s like, I’m on unemployment.”
She applied for a job at
Swedish Medical Center to work
as a materials handler, charged
with moving medical equipment
for $23 an hour, she said, add-
ing that is less than she cur-
rently makes and doesn’t in-
clude benefits. She was told she
starts March 30.
The travel and hotel busi-
ness, which employs millions of
low-wage workers, has already
been hit. After years of stable
employment, Dina Paredes is
bracing for uncertainty around
her paychecks. The 52-year-old
housekeeper at a Westin hotel
in downtown Los Angeles has
cleaned about 14 rooms per
shift for the past eight years. As
the hotel’s occupancy dropped
this month, she and other col-
leagues have been transitioned
to “on-call” status. In the past
week, she hasn’t worked a sin-
gle day, and she isn’t paid un-
less she gets work.
“Of course it is concerning,”
the mother of four said through
a translator for Unite Here Local
11, the union that represents the
hotel workers. “I have family. I
have bills I have to pay.”
More white-collar employees
working from home means cus-
tomers aren’t riding in taxis, or-
dering coffee or buying lunch.
And they can now take care of
their own pets during the day.
Dog-walking service NYC
Pooch suspended operations
Tuesday and has laid off its staff
of about 50 people, said co-
founder Shane McEvoy.
When work started to dwin-
dle last week, Mr. McEvoy
started giving employees the
option of being laid off, so that
they could tap unemployment
benefits. He said most employ-
ees took him up on the offer, be-
cause they will be paid more in
jobless benefits than they would
earn with a few walks a week.
Mr. McEvoy said employees
start at New York City’s $15 an
hour minimum wage and earn
commissions. In an interview, he
choked up when he said he was
unable to keep employees.
“It all comes down to what
cash you have on hand,” he said.
“Everyone would love to keep
people. The fact is, it’s not pos-
sible.” He said he tried to find
low-interest loans to keep the
business afloat but has strug-
gled to secure financing.
Tyler Dziendziel, of Wyan-
dotte, Mich., feared he would
lose about half his income when
the NBA and NHL suspended
games. One of his two jobs is
working security at Detroit’s
Little Caesars Arena. Mr.
Dziendziel, 24, began to debate
whether he should pay rent on
his mobile home or pay for re-
pairs for a vehicle he needs to
do his other job, arranging store
displays for Frito-Lay products.
But he received good news
this week when he was told
team owners would pay him and
other arena workers for sched-
uled shifts through April. “I’m
really happy I’ll be getting paid
and able to keep up with my
bills,” said Mr. Dziendziel, a
member of the United for Re-
spect worker advocacy group.
—Chip Cutter
contributed to this article.
THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Che Janezich, a cook at Omega Ouzeri, has lost work since Seattle said restaurants could only offer takeout.
GRANT HINDSLEY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Lowerwagescorrelatewithcloserpersonalinteractionsatwork,meaningpeoplewith
thosejobshaveagreaterpotentialtobeexposedtocontagiousdiseases.Onlyhealth-care
workers,whotendtobehigherwageearners,havemoreexposure.
Health-careoccupations*
Non-health-careoccupations Requiresexposuretodiseaseorinfections
atleastonceamonth
Numberofemployees
*Practitioners, technical and support
Note: Employee and wage figures as of May 2018
Source: Wall Street Journal analysis of Labor Department data
Kara Dapena/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
ARM’S LENGTH
AND CLOSER
Notnear
otherpeople
Withothers
butnotclosely
Slightly
close
Moderately
close
Very
close
HOW CLOSE PEOPLE ARE TO ONE ANOTHER AT WORK
4,000,
1,000,
50,
Medianannualwage:
$30,000to$49,
Officeclerks
First-linesupervisors
offoodpreparationand
servingworkers
Medianannualwage:
$50,000andmore
Generaland
operationsmanagers
Registered
nurses
Physical
therapists
Dental
hygienists
Medianannualwage:
$20,000to$29,
Retail
salespersons
Handlaborersand
freight,stockand
materialmovers
Combinedfoodpreparationand
servingworkers,includingfastfood
Waitersand
waitresses
Teacher
assistants
Nursing
assistants
Personal
careaides
Hairdressers,
hairstylistsand
cosmetologists
Orderlies
Cashiers
More than 90% of the an-
nounced U.S. job cuts tied to the
coronavirus were at restaurants
and other entertainment and
leisure businesses, according to
outplacement firm Challenger,
Gray & Christmas.
For many who retain their
jobs, tips and commissions have
evaporated. Working at home
isn’t an option, nor is sick pay.
“I don’t want to leave the job
because it’s my financial stabil-
ity,” said Chandler Schaffer, who
is 23 and earns $10.50 an hour
working at a pawnshop in South
Carolina. For now, he is continu-
ing to work even though he has
diabetes and is terrified of being
infected by the virus. “Right
now it’s a very big pit of uncer-
tainty with everything,” he said.
Line cook Che Janezich, 35,
has watched the crowds thin
and her hours dwindle at Omega
Ouzeri, the Greek restaurant
where she works in Seattle,
making $21 an hour, or about
$3,000 a month.
Now that the city has shut
down restaurants except for
takeout service, Ms. Janezich
said Thursday that her hours,
which went from 45 a week to
25 recently, were cut again to
about 11 a week. She has already
tapped her savings to pay rent
this month.
“I walk down the street and
see homeless people every single
day. I’ve always known I’m a pay-
check or two away from that,”
she said. “But now it seems even
more real, which is scary.”
She said the only places hir-
ing in the area now are the Am-
azon.com warehouse or grocery
stores, which she said feels like
a step backward: “It’s like that
cliché of you don’t know how
good you have it until it’s gone.”
There are more than 34 mil-
lion people in this pool of the
most vulnerable workers, or
about a quarter of the private
workforce. About half this group
were employed in services jobs
in the hospitality industry,
where occupations earn less
than the overall median pay for
all U.S. workers of $18.58. The
median wage for a restaurant
job is $11.09 an hour.
The other half come from re-
tail, personal and maintenance
service jobs—many of which
start at the minimum wage, as
low as $7.25 an hour, depending
on the state.
Despite an economic expan-
sion that brought with it a 50-
year low in unemployment,
many households remain a pay-
check away from financial
stress. Almost 40% of Ameri-
cans don’t have enough cash on
hand to cover an unexpected
$400 expense, a 2019 Federal
Reserve survey concluded.
The virus relief bill passed by
Congress this week expands un-
employment insurance and pro-
vides more money for food
stamps, aiming to provide an
initial safety net as layoffs in-
crease. The bill also requires
businesses with fewer than 500
employees provide two weeks of
paid leave in certain circum-
stances, with an additional 10
weeks of leave at two-thirds pay
for workers to care for children
when schools or day cares close.
Meanwhile, potential direct
payments to Americans, part of
a further stimulus package un-
der discussion in Congress,
could provide a cash cushion.
“Getting infected with the vi-
rus is not as much of an existen-
tial threat to my life as not hav-
ContinuedfromPageOne
Crisis Hits
Low-Wage
Workers
Before the coronavirus
pandemic, Joseph Puma’s
best day as a gig worker was
a $344 haul he notched last
year. Last Friday, he nearly
doubled that tally and fol-
lowed up with another $
over the weekend.
Mr. Puma, 38 years old,
delivers for Shipt, aTarget
Corp.-owned startup that
contracts people to buy
products at retail stores and
take them to customers’
homes. He started in Novem-
ber 2018 and gets paid per
delivery—varying rates, plus
tips.
A Yale University and
seminary grad with a part-
time job, he uses his extra
Shipt income to pay off more
than $200,000 in student
debt, and to keep up with
health-care premiums and
other bills.
The growing public-health
crisis “seemed like an excel-
lent time to participate and
attempt to gain some finan-
cial ground when it has been
so hard to keep up,” Mr. Puma
said. He said the weekend’s
pace of work exhausted him.
Shipt didn’t respond to a
request for comment, but
app research firm Apptopia
put out a blog post this week
saying that Shipt, Instacart
and other delivery services
had record daily downloads
of their apps.
The boom in demand for
delivery comes with another
downside. Confirmed cases
of the new coronavirus are
rising. The more Mr. Puma
works, the greater his risk of
exposure. For instance, a
customer Sunday told him
through the door of his home
that he had been exposed to
the virus, and then tipped
$20 via a smartphone app.
In addition to a job, Mr.
Puma sees the Shipt gig as a
public service. “I choose to
assume some of the risks in-
volved with this work at this
time because I continue to
care to help people while I
help myself.”
Helping people by deliver-
ing groceries has gotten
more complicated and
stressful in recent days. Last
Friday he endured a 50-min-
ute line at a Fairway Market
in Manhattan. Because he re-
lies on public transportation,
he walks around with bags
loaded with items like 12-
packs of soda and takes
them on the bus. Mr. Puma
often composes texts to cus-
tomers telling them an item
they want is out of stock and
suggesting replacements
whenever possible.
“Each shopping trip feels
like a sort of performance,”
Mr. Puma said. Over the past
few days many Shipt cus-
tomers have been placing
their first orders. So, he
spends a lot of time manag-
ing expectations. “Some-
times that means writing a
novel in a text.”
Recently, he sent a picture
of a long line to a customer,
and followed up with up-
dates like “1/3 of the way
past the frozen section.”
Mr. Puma delivers more
than just food. One order re-
quested bed sheets, pillow
cases, a candle and Scrabble.
Everything but the board
game was in stock.
Empty bread shelves and
bare frozen-vegetable sec-
tions pose a problem. Cus-
tomers can indicate through
an app that their whole or-
der should be canceled if one
of the items on their list
isn’t available. This can ne-
cessitate some finesse and
lots of communication.
Such was the case with a
large order that included 25
pounds of flour. Halfway
through fulfilling it, Mr. Puma
realized the store didn’t carry
the right flour. He found 10
pounds of another brand and
sent a picture to the cus-
tomer, who agreed to settle
for the alternative.
After navigating the store
comes the job of distributing
items—often including bottles
of juice and bulk goods—in
flimsy paper bags mandated
since March 1 by New York.
As an extra precaution,
Shipt urges workers to drop
items outside customers’
doors instead of carrying
them in.
Mr. Puma wants a break,
and is planning to spend
next week with his partner,
working on remote paid
projects, taxes and his
search for a full-time job. He
will also be wrestling with
the decision of whether to
continue the delivery job.
“I am hesitant to do an-
other blitz,” he said this
week, “because it seems to
be more risky.”
BYYULIYACHERNOVA
As the new
coronavirus
forces big
changes in
how we
work, The Wall Street Jour-
nal is looking at how differ-
ent people are coping with
the stresses and risks.
Gig Worker Balances Big Paydays Against Risks