Policies > Future of Work > Section 2
Modernizing the Social Safety Net
Most full-time workers have traditionally received healthcare, retirement, and other crucial benefits through their employers. But for the millions of workers serving as independent contractors, switching jobs frequently, and otherwise working in ways that don’t look like traditional employment, the existing benefit structures aren't sufficient.
Section 1:
Skill Development
Section 2:
Modernizing Social Safety
Section 3:
Supporting Entrepreneurship
In addition, traditional employees are less likely to receive benefits from their employers. These trends require a new movement to empower all types of workers to take advantage of the opportunities of the new economy.
The Facts
About 40% of independent workers have access to employer-provided health insurance, compared with 89% of full-time traditional employees.
According to census data, from 1979 to 2018, access to employer-provided retirement coverage has declined from over half of workers to 42%, and access to health insurance coverage has declined from 70% to just over half.
POLICY GOALS
Policymakers must make benefits more available and more portable so that workers can take them from job to job and can access them outside of W2 employment.
Government must both incentivize and support retirement savings outside of the traditional pension/401k system.
State and local leaders must play a central role in providing/ensuring workers’ access to benefits and not wait for the federal government to act.
Policy Recommendations
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Portable Benefits
Given the low rates at which independent contractors and non-traditional workers receive benefits, state and local policymakers must provide both the mechanism and funding to make benefits available for these workers.
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Unemployment Insurance Flexibility & Expansion
State and local leaders should adopt policies to make unemployment insurance available to non-traditional workers and remove requirements that penalize non-traditional work.
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Universal Contribution Accounts for Retirement
To promote more robust retirement savings for all workers, officials should adopt policies that create automatic retirement contribution accounts for employees not currently covered under an employer retirement plan.
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Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit
The federal Earned Income Tax Credit provides a refundable tax credit to lower- income working families and can be an effective tool for moving people out of poverty. States should provide additional support for working families by supplementing the federal credit.
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Women and Paid Family Leave
State and local policymakers should aim to provide universal access to paid family leave so that all parents and caregivers, especially women, are not forced to choose between providing important care for people they love and keeping the job they need to support their families, especially among the 90+ percent of low-wage workers who do not have access to this benefit.
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Women and Childcare
Childcare responsibilities continue to fall disproportionately on women while high-quality childcare is prohibitively expensive to the extent that many mothers quit their job, work fewer hours, or choose not to enter the workforce because it is “cheaper” than childcare alternatives. To address the challenge of availability and affordability of high-quality options, state and local governments should subsidize the cost of childcare.
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Women and Reducing Unplanned Pregnancies
An unplanned pregnancy can interfere with a woman’s educational and career plans and lead to a wide variety of negative health and economic outcomes for her, the baby, and her family. Access to reliable contraceptives is therefore a vital tool to help reduce unintended pregnancies as well as plan for safe, healthy pregnancies and children.
