Streetsblog Chicago has previously reported on the steep drop in transit ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve been curious as to how Uber and Lyft has fared during this time. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Economic Policy Institute were commissioned by the Project for Middle Class Renewal to study the effects of the COVID pandemic on ride-hail drivers in a report titled
Researchers found that both the number of ride-hail passengers and the number of drivers fell considerably based on analysis of nearly 78,000 trips completed within Chicago during September 2019 and September 2020. Before the pandemic there were over 110,000 registered ride-hail drivers, 66 percent of whom (72,000) were active and recorded at least one trip during September 2019. In September 2020, there were fewer than 67,000 ride-hail drivers, 44 percent (29,000) of whom recorded at least one ride. Interestingly, the average number of trips by ride-hail dri
Dive Brief:
A new report says collective bargaining agreements help create robust middle-class careers and make significant contributions to local economies. The report, released this week, was produced by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The authors analyzed CBAs between the Mid-America Regional Bargaining Association and eight trade unions in the Chicago area. They found that a typical union journeyworker earns $77,300 per year, which is comparable to that of urban Illinois workers with bachelor s degrees. The study also found that apprenticeship programs paid by CBAs turn out 97% of all local construction apprentices.