Real-time data on COVID-19 impacts

The state of hourly work at small businesses

The spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) is having a devastating impact on small businesses and hourly workers. At Homebase, we are in a unique position to see this happen in real-time. In the interest of transparency, we’re sharing our data publicly here, so that governments and communities can understand and support the people who are most impacted. We’ve also created guides and resources to help small businesses navigate the crisis.

The data on this site is delayed 4 weeks. If you are interested in access to real-time data feeds, please reach out to us at data@joinhomebase.com.

The impacts of COVID-19 on have been far-reaching. The Homebase data gives us insight into these impacts through three key measures:

1) The volume of hours worked by employees
2) the number businesses open at all
3) The number of employees working

Compared to January benchmarks, all three measures have shown dramatic declines before stabilizing at a “new normal”.

Note: While the Homebase data has robust coverage across , some of the specific industry cuts may result in smaller segments and, hence, some volatility in the key measures.


This data is delayed 4 weeks. If you’re interested in real-time data email us at data@joinhomebase.com.

Want to dig deeper? Check out our city comparison tool.

This dataset is based on Homebase data for over 60,000 businesses and 1 million hourly employees active in the US in January 2020. All the rates compare that day vs. the median for that day of the week for the period Jan 4, 2020 – Jan 31, 2020.

  • Hours worked is calculated from the hours recorded in Homebase timecards.
  • Locations open is based on whether or not a business had at least one employee clock-in.
  • Employees working is based on the distinct number of hourly workers with at least one clock-in.

Note that the cyclical dips represent the weekends—one interesting insight from the data is that businesses are more likely to be closed on the weekends, relative to weekdays, in comparison to the January benchmark.

By Business Type

Not all industries have been impacted in the same manner. Use this page to explore the impact of COVID-19 across different industries in . As lockdown restrictions are eased, the dynamics across industry will continue to change.

Note: The Homebase data set is more heavily weighted towards Food & Drink and Retail businesses. As a result, some of the smaller segments (e.g. Transportation) may experience more volatility due to smaller samples.

Food & Drink


This data is delayed 4 weeks. If you’re interested in real-time data email us at data@joinhomebase.com.

Retail


This data is delayed 4 weeks. If you’re interested in real-time data email us at data@joinhomebase.com.

Home and Repair


This data is delayed 4 weeks. If you’re interested in real-time data email us at data@joinhomebase.com.

Beauty & Personal Care


This data is delayed 4 weeks. If you’re interested in real-time data email us at data@joinhomebase.com.

Health Care & Fitness


This data is delayed 4 weeks. If you’re interested in real-time data email us at data@joinhomebase.com.

Leisure & Entertainment


This data is delayed 4 weeks. If you’re interested in real-time data email us at data@joinhomebase.com.

Professional Services


This data is delayed 4 weeks. If you’re interested in real-time data email us at data@joinhomebase.com.

Transportation


This data is delayed 4 weeks. If you’re interested in real-time data email us at data@joinhomebase.com.