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It’s been called the Gig Economy, Freelance Nation, the Rise of the Creative Class, and the e-economy, with the “e” standing for electronic, entrepreneurial. Everywhere we look, we can see the U.S. workforce undergoing a massive change. No longer do we work at the same company for 25 years, waiting for the gold watch, expecting the benefits and security that come with full-time employment. We’re no longer simply lawyers, or photographers, or writers. Instead, we’re part-time lawyers-cum-amateur photographers who write on the side.
Today, careers consist of piecing together various types of work, juggling multiple clients, learning to be marketing and accounting experts, and creating offices in bedrooms/coffee shops. Independent workers abound. We call them freelancers, contractors, sole proprietors, consultants, temps, and the self-employed.
This transition is nothing less than a revolution. We haven’t seen a shift in the workforce so significant in almost 100 years since we transitioned from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Now, employees are leaving the traditional workplace and opting to piece together a professional life on their own. As of 2005, one-third of our workforce participated in this “freelance economy”. Statistics show that number has only increased over the past six years. While the economy has unwillingly pushed some people into independent work, many have chosen it because of greater flexibility that lets them skip the dreary office environment and focus on more personally fulfilling projects.
These trends will have an enormous impact on our economy and our society:
We don’t actually know the true composition of the new workforce. After 2005, the government stopped counting independent workers in a meaningful and accurate way. Studies have shown that the independent workforce has grown and changed significantly since then.
Jobs no longer provide the protections and security that workers used to expect. The basics such as health insurance, protection from unpaid wages, a retirement plan, and unemployment insurance are out of reach for one-third of working Americans. Independent workers are forced to seek them elsewhere, and if they can’t find or afford them, then they go without. Therefore, it’s time to build a new support system that allows for the flexible and mobile way that people are working.
This new, changing workforce needs to build economic security in profoundly new ways. For the new workforce, the New Deal is irrelevant. When it was passed in the 1930s, the New Deal provided workers with important protections and benefits but those securities were built for a traditional employer-employee relationship. The New Deal has not evolved to include independent workers.
1. It can be inferred from Paragraph 1 that ______.
A) the U.S. laboring force has changed slightly
B) the Americans used to work quite a long time at the same company
C) only full-time employees are entitled to social benefits and security
D) now the Americans prefer e-economy to traditional economy
2. By saying “Independent workers abound” (Lines 2-3, Para. 2), the author probably means ______.
A) more and more independent workers are suffering
B) the independent workers are bound to be minority
C) the independent workers are around you
D) there are large numbers of independent workers
3. Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 3?
A) There was a significant shift in the U.S. workforce 100 years ago.
B) It took the Americans almost 100 years to shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy.
C) Now many Americans choose independent work because they enjoy the great flexibility.
D) Now about one-third of U.S. employees are leaving their farms to work in large cities.
4. From Paragraph 5 and Paragraph 6, we can draw the conclusion that ______.
A) only one-third of working Americans can get protections and security from jobs
B) the U.S. independent workers get unemployment insurance and health insurance from the government
C) the U.S. government has got accurate statistics of the new workforce
D) a new support system is necessary for the independent workers
5. From the last paragraph, we can learn that ______.
A) the New Deal provided workers with significant protections and benefits in early 20th century
B) the New Deal took the interests of independent workers into consideration
C) the New Deal was designed for both traditional employees and independent workers
D) the New Deal was passed to realize the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy