I think there is a real opportunity here that is being missed, unless I am missing something, especially for companies like Uber, Lyft or Homejoy. Things like

I think there is a real opportunity here that is being missed, unless I am missing something, especially for companies like Uber, Lyft or Homejoy. Things like AirBnB, maybe a bit less. These kinds of companies encourage the "micropreneur" - the micro-sized entrepreneur. I personally really like this concept as it frees some of us from cubicle-land. We should consider what are the "benefits" of full-time, W-2 salaried work vs "everything else" (1099, etc.)? Benefits of W-2 work (for a good benefit package): - presumed "stable", regular income at an agreed upon rate - regularly scheduled work hours (usually) - generally defined work role (position, title, responsibilities) - paid vacation time - retirement plans, pensions, etc. (sometimes) - health insurance - life insurance - dental insurance - disability insurance - different tax classification Those benefits are very nice, but in an "at-will" employment state like California, they can go poof and disappear quickly. And they are expensive to pay for, for companies/organizations. Here are a few points to consider: - If people have their own individual health, life, disability and liability insurance, they can work as an individual with "benefits" independent of an organization. - The benefits of "sharing economy" jobs have costs, but allow different lifestyles. Controlling work hours, sharing of personal assets in exchange for financial compensation on a micro-scale, feeling "self-employed", making a living with diverse pursuits. - In my last job, the HR function was outsourced to a third party company (Trinet) that pooled risk for all of the benefits above across all the companies that outsourced HR to them. If it works for companies, why can't that work for individuals too (aside from the obvious $$ concerns)? The Health Insurance Exchange (US, e.g. "Obamacare"), for as many problems as it has, tries to help address getting health insurance more affordably as an individual vs. getting it through a company by pooling risk across the population. I don't know of an insurance exchange for liability, disability, dental, etc. insurances to try to help drive prices down in those areas. Should there be one? Cost sharing and enabling independent individuals, small business owners, micropreneurs, etc. is one way to defeat this weakness. Cheating to avoid cost does not work, but finding strong fundamental ways to innovate the system can lower cost. If enough people band together to enable this way of doing it, then they are the risk pool, and they can share costs. Somebody just needs to help put together this system for them.