Economic
research

Labor market analysis and data from Instawork.

Instawork worker in a warehouse

Instawork analysis

New webinar: Optimizing your staff for successful campus dining

Instawork presents a new webinar discussing the best strategies for staffing and other aspects of campus dining

Making sense of economic data

Instawork hosted a webinar on interpreting economic data for use in business decisions; here is a summary.

New webinar: What do economic data mean for your business?

Instawork presents a new webinar discussing how to interpret economic data in ways that support strategy and planning.

Experts explain how to build a hospitality staff

Instawork hosted a webinar discussing how to put together the ideal staff for hospitality; here is a summary.

The Layered Approach to Staffing

Move beyond traditional staffing to a layered approach. This report outlines a new approach to staffing that takes advantage of the broader menu of options in the labor market.

State of Warehouse Labor, 2024

Read key results and analysis from Instawork's survey of logistics businesses in partnership with Logistics Management magazine.

State of Hospitality, 2023

Read results and analysis from Instawork's survey of hospitality businesses in partnership with the International Catering Association.

State of Flexible Workforce, 2025

This report sheds light on the fastest-growing segment of the American workforce. The data detail the diversity, quality, and motivations of these hourly workers.

Monthly Labor Market Report

Instawork's monthly summary of trends in pay, demographics, and demand for flexible work, published before the Employment Situation release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Business costs of compensation

Instawork's briefings on business costs, published before the Employment Cost Index and Employer Costs for Employee Compensation releases from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Pay Signal Index

Technical explanation of Instawork's exclusive time series on overall trends in pay for in-person hourly work.

Media appearances

"See No Labor, Hear No Labor" – Hourly workers fall off the government’s radar as they shift from traditional payrolls to flexible apps

Commentary on the labor market drawing on Instawork's realtime data

Helping business owners and managers to navigate the uncertain waters of the economy

Daniel Altman explains how economic uncertainty may affect hiring

Daniel Altman discusses how changes in pay are affecting younger workers

Meet the Chief Economist

Headshot of Daniel Altman, PhD

Daniel Altman, PhD

Daniel leads Instawork's Economic Research Division and is an expert on local labor markets, especially for in-person hourly work. After completing his doctorate in economics at Harvard, he wrote commentary on the staffs of The New York Times and The Economist, served as an economic advisor in the British government, taught on the faculty of New York University's Stern School of Business, and was the first head of strategy at Kaplan-Levien Sports Group and the first director of thought leadership at Dalberg. Daniel is a frequent speaker and writer on the labor market and the economy at large.

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