An Optimist’s Guide to Benefits in the Gig Economy Libby Reder and Natalie Foster

About the Future of Work Initiative The Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative is a nonpartisan effort to identify concrete ways to strengthen the social contract in the midst of sweeping changes in today’s workplace and workforce Warner Fellows: Greg, Natalie – Medium letter Roundtables, working on a) research agenda and b) resource guide for policymakers

Independent and contingent work are on the rise Depending on the study, 15-54 million people are categorized as independent workers (EPI, Upwork/Freelancers Union) 36% of Americans are engaged in enterprising or informal work, either as a substitute or complement to a traditional full-time job (Federal Reserve 2016) Almost all net employment growth in the U.S. economy from 2005 to 2015 appears to have occurred in alternative work arrangements (Katz/Krueger 2016) The sheer number of contingent workers demands attention – especially true when you also consider the growth of those numbers in recent years Note: Form 1099-MISC can cover many types of payments, everything from rents, lottery prizes, and other awards, to fishing boat proceeds from working on a fishing boat.

In the gig economy, the number of people earning is still small but growing quickly Just under 1% of adults in the U.S. earned income through the platform economy in a given month; more than 4% (10.3 million) participated over a three year period from 2012-2015 47x growth over three year period from 2012-2015 In San Francisco Bay Area, 5.1% participated in year ended September 2015 (compared to 3.1% nationally) Source: JPMorgan Chase Institute, 2016

Online gig economy demographics Age: Workforce skews young but older workers make up meaningful portion of workforce – 18% are 55+ Income: All quintiles evenly represented, but participation higher for lower- income workers on labor platforms Sex: More male (67/33) Race/ethnicity: Generally maps to U.S. workforce numbers from Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014), except lower participation by Latinos/Hispanics Relationship to other work: Online gig economy work is primarily secondary income – 43% also have FT (29%) or PT (14%) job Financial health: Only one in three report stable monthly income and 41% report facing a financial hardship in previous year (vs. 18% of Americans) Sources: JPMorgan Chase Institute, 2016; Emergent/Intuit 2015

(Photo: Josh Heald via Flickr / Creative Commons)

Re-imagining the safety net Portable: Not tied to employment Universal: Available to all Pro-rated: Aligned with patchwork reality of gig work