Uber Drivers Seek Unemployment Benefits or Loans. Few Get Both (1)

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Ron Parise has spent about 50 hours a week for the last two years on the roads of Cape Coral, Florida, shuttling tourists and snowbirds between their rentals and the airport for Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. All that came to a sudden stop in late March, when the arrivals gates went quiet and Parise’s wife insisted he stay home to avoid exposing himself to the coronavirus.

Parise, 73, used his newfound free time to apply for any public assistance program for which he thought he might qualify. Nothing came through until early ...