We surveyed 8,422 workers at 32 of the largest retail and food service firms at two points in time - once early in the COVID-19 pandemic (average survey date was April 1) and once later in the spring of 2020 (average survey date was May 20). Only employers with 30 or more respondents in each wave are shown.
According to research conducted by The Shift Project, only a third of workers at the 103 largest service sector industry employers in Virginia have access to paid sick leave. Additional comments by Daniel Schneider and Virginia advocates further explain the implications of this research and how Virginia is looking to address the issue.
In a new paper, Daniel Schneider, Peter Tufano, and Annamaria Lusardi examine household economic fragility during the COVID outbreak. They find that there is no evidence of an economic recovery in household finances, rather there is evidence of a second wave of negative shocks, and the end of the CARES Act’s Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefits further increased financial fragility.
The Shift Project’s brief on unemployment insurance (UI) reveals notable differences in access to the benefit across US states. In Florida, only 8% of the sample that had applied had been paid. There is further contextualization of the FL data, with details on the technological challenges faced in the state.
The Harvard Gazette covers the release of The Shift Project’s new research brief on service sector workers’ access to unemployment insurance (UI). Both Daniel Schneider and Kristen Harknett discuss the research and further explain the barriers workers face when seeking UI benefits.
This article discusses The Shift Project’s Fall ‘20 research on service sector workers’ access to unemployment insurance (UI). Daniel Schneider is interviewed and further contextualizes the findings and their implications.
In this op-ed, Kristen Harknett and Daniel Schneider invite employers, policymakers, and others to reimagine how they think about essential workers' pay, access to paid sick leave, and work schedules. They also point to the need to consider how these experiences differ across racial/ethnic and gender groups.
The Shift Project's report on the job quality of California's service sector was commissioned by the Irvine Foundation to increase awareness about the impact that job scheduling and other aspects of job quality have on low-wage workers. The report notes the effects that unpredictable schedules have on daily life, time with family, quality sleep, and more.
