Page 60 - IJPS-11-5

International Journal of
Population Studies Atypical workers and COVID-19

workers are employed in industries hit hardest by the workers’ employment and labor force participation,
pandemic, such as hospitality and retail. The pandemic especially youth. Those who became unemployed during
has highlighted growing issues in workplace safety, skill COVID-19 were mainly people with atypical work.
gaps, technology adoption, and work reorganization in the This paper investigates the impact of the COVID-19
hospitality industry. The impact of technology adoption, health crisis on atypical/contingent workers and explores
shrinking labor pools, and workplace risks will likely be the factors determining the increase/decrease of the
accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis (Huang et al., 2021). temporary labor force at the firm level. The authors aim

COVID-19’s impact on the real economy and the labor to verify the empirical validity of the Schumpeterian
market has received extensive coverage in the empirical hypothesis of “creative destruction” by examining whether
literature; however, few studies have investigated the the crisis is associated with destroying old jobs and creating
impact of the COVID-19 health crisis on a vulnerable new job needs. The authors use a firm-level database of
segment of the labor market, atypical/temporary workers. 12,193 firms from 19 countries and a dynamic logit model
A contingent work or atypical job is defined as “any job methodology to analyze the data.
in which an individual does not have an explicit or implicit The paper’s major contributions reveal that the COVID-19
contract for long-term employment or a job in which the health crisis severely impacted atypical/contingent workers,
minimum hours worked may vary in a non-systematic particularly those working in small firms and sectors other
way” (Polivka & Nardone, 1989, p.11). Unlike a typical job than construction. The firm’s geographic location is a key
whose main characteristics are the full-time, open-ended driver of the increase or decrease in a firm’s temporary
contract, contingent work materializes as a part-time, workforce, with African and European firms experiencing
fixed-term contract. This type of employment is intended a decrease in their temporary workforce, as opposed to
to promote employment in the labor market (Couprie MENA firms. The paper also confirms the Schumpeterian
& Joutard, 2017, p.60). Atypical jobs offer recruitment hypothesis of “creative destruction” suggests that large firms
flexibility for employees in exchange for job insecurity for drive innovation by outcompeting less efficient, smaller
workers; this phenomenon is known under the neologism firms, fostering economic progress through continuous
“flexicarity” (Everaere, 2016). cycles of innovation and renewal. The adjustment policies
Contingent works are employment contracts with implemented at the firm level led to the elimination of
multi-party relationships (hiring through recruitment former temporary jobs while creating new temporary labor
agencies and employment promotion agencies, etc.) or demands. The results of this study offer valuable insights for
other “ambiguous” employment relationships (rights policymakers in designing measures to support vulnerable
and obligations are unclear or legislation is inadequate or segments of the labor market and to promote job creation
deficient) offering flexibility demanded by firms to meet in the post-crisis period.
unexpected labor needs, and many other advantages related The policy implications of our study are significant.
to cost control, evaluation of recruits, and replacement of Policymakers must implement measures that protect
absent workers (Polivka & Nardone, 1989). A second form workers from the negative consequences of atypical jobs,
of atypical job is the status of a self-employed/independent such as job insecurity and lack of social protection. Such
or contractual employee, known as a “freelancer.” Unlike measures could include strengthening labor market
standard atypical employment, “freelancers” have, in most regulations to ensure that atypical workers are not unfairly
cases, a specific expertise and a high qualification level treated and are provided with adequate social protection,
(computer science or programming) that they sell to a firm regardless of their employment status. In addition, policies
or a public administration for the accomplishment of a that promote education and training for atypical workers
project limited in time (Connelly & Gallagher, 2004, p.961). could help improve their skills and employability, reducing

Hlasny & Alazzawi (2022) examined the impact of the their vulnerability to job insecurity. Finally, policies that
COVID-19 crisis and government responses on trends in support creating more traditional jobs and promoting
worker outcomes in Arab countries. They focused on the economic growth could help reduce the prevalence of
vulnerable employment of youth and women, and used atypical jobs and improve the overall quality of work.
the Economic Research Forum’s COVID-19 Middle East This article is structured into five main sections. The
and North Africa (MENA) Monitors microdata for five first section, the introduction, provides an overview of
countries – Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia the topic, highlighting the relevance and significance of
– and applied a multinomial logistic regression model to studying the relationship between the COVID-19 health
analyze employment status separately by gender. Empirical crisis and atypical employment, particularly concerning
results showed that COVID-19 negatively affected most contingent work. The second section presents stylized

Volume 11 Issue 5 (2025) 54 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.3575