The Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, for example, finds that 46 percent of households report that they would need to borrow money or sell something in order to pay an unexpected expense of $ These findings suggest that employers, policymakers, and workers should seek ways to help individuals better manage the risks inherent in most forms of contingent work.
For example, we may need to enhance social safety net programs, such as unemployment and disability insurance, to better support some types of contingent work. Another possibility is to make benefits, such as health insurance and retirement saving, portable across different employers.