US. Gig Workers’ Retirement Prospects Look Dim
What will retirement look like for gig workers? It isn’t a pretty picture, according to preliminary research presented by Jack VanDerhei, research director of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, at a policy forum earlier this month. In the worst-case scenario, the potential impact on national retirement income adequacy is staggering: The nation’s overall net retirement savings surplus at retirement age would decrease by $2.2 trillion (in 2018 dollars). And the retirement savings shortfall for those who run out of money in retirement would increase by $61 billion.
“The potential dollar value is truly significant,” VanDerhei says. Of course, with the gig economy evolving, there are lots of assumptions: For example, how the percentage of the workforce in the gig-only economy will change over time. “Do you stay in the gig economy or grow up and get a real job?” VanDerhei asks. “For a certain percentage of these people, once a gig worker, always a gig worker.”
Read More: Forbes
