Today Uber announced a proposal that gig platforms be required to pay for benefits for independent workers, that platforms guarantee occupational accident insurance for workers hurt on the job, and that government include those workers in anti-discrimination laws. In a New York Times OpEd this morning Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated "Uber is ready, right now, to pay more to give drivers new benefits and protections."

COVID-19 has dealt an unprecedented blow to our economy and thankfully the federal government is providing resources and assistance to help businesses get back on their feet and get Americans back to work. But the pandemic has also brought about an unprecedented disaster when it comes to health care and the uninsured, and that crisis needs more immediate attention as well. With a second wave of cases building, the time to act is now.

Earlier this month, the Brookings Institute outlined the employment insecurity that Rust Belt communities are now facing: job loss, disappearing pensions, industrial restructuring, and automation. This lack of jobs and safety nets is ironic because these Midwestern industrial states and unions led the way for employer-sponsored benefits post-World War II. That many Rust Belt workers are now suffering is a tragedy because, as Brookings outlines, it shouldn’t have to be like this.

Today in San Francisco, The Aspen Institute’s Future of Work Initiative is releasing its first Portable Benefits Resource Guide. Stride Health was honored to contribute to this report, which provides guidance for policymakers interested in creating a standardized system of benefits for the budding 1099 economy.

American workers are quickly shifting towards more independent, self-directed work. It’s increasingly easy to find work and develop a flexible lifestyle outside of the bounds of the previous generation’s get-a-job-for-life mode. A key support structure for this shift has been the explosion of the on-demand economy, enabling independent working Americans to supplement or replace their personal income streams.