Every day, the Instawork platform handles thousands of transactions involving businesses and hourly professionals, generating a huge amount of data on hourly pay as well as other aspects of the labor market. This report summarizes some of the major trends in demographics, roles, and worker constraints in regions across the United States.
The data are also compiled into the Instawork Pay Signal Index (PSI) and indexed trends in hourly pay. Because businesses can book shifts in advance on the Instawork platform, the metrics include forward-looking data for the current month as well. Please refer to the appendix for explanations of the methods behind each metric.
In April, as in March, a preponderance of businesses raised hourly pay for flexible workers. But offers heading into May are much more likely to be lower:
Our in-app surveys track Pros' labor market situations on a monthly basis. For details on methods and questionnaires, please see the Methodological Appendix below.
Here is the distribution of Pros by the jobs they worked last month and during the reference week (17 April 2023) this month:
Each kind of work dropped except for Instawork shifts, which rose slightly. Here is a similar breakdown for the types of jobs Pros wanted to work:
Fewer Pros wanted part-time jobs or Instawork shifts, but the share looking for full-time work was steady. Taken together, these charts suggest Pros were not able to get all the full-time positions they wanted in April, and the labor market may have cooled relative to March.
The willingness to work is still there. Pros actually worked more hours in April than they did in March, with almost 60% working at least 31 hours in the reference week:
These data were roughly in line with reported preferences for working hours, which rose slightly as well in April:
It is possible that spring break holidays affected these numbers somewhat. With Spring Break for many and the major religious holidays in April, Pros may have wanted more hours in the reference week to make up for earlier time off.
We also asked Pros about their care responsibilities, and these were their responses:
Almost 60% of Pros said they had to care for children in addition to working, and only 17% said they had no care responsibilities at all. Once again, these data strongly suggest that Pros are working because they have to in order to make ends meet for their families.
The share of men working shifts on the platform fell again, while the share of white workers dropped for the first time in nine months:
Increases in hourly pay for flexible work dominated across business involved in production, logistics, and sales in April. In services, pay was largely steady, with a slightly more businesses lowering pay in building and grounds cleaning. These increases suggest the tight labor market for companies and the twin challenges of rising prices and higher interest rates for workers are continuing to bite:
Hourly pay was steady in most roles in April, though there was some variation in service roles. Pay for counter staff, cashiers, and concession and stand workers did rise as outdoor activities and sporting events ramped up. Pay continued to fall for bartenders, and pay offers for May are starting to decline for cooking positions and dishwashers:
