America is fast approaching a historic milestone. By 2027, freelancers will make up more than 50 percent of the workforce, marking a fundamental shift in the U.S. labor market. Yet many of these workers will have no retirement plan.

According to the Pew Research Center, only 13 percent of single-person business owners are saving for retirement compared to almost three-fourths of Americans in traditional jobs. That leaves tens of millions of freelancers and independent workers at risk, just as other forms of retirement security begin to falter.

Freelancers, contractors, creators and small-business owners are set to become the backbone of our economy. When they do, they’ll be working without a retirement system that supports their earnings. That’s a national crisis in the making.

Digital services companies are expected to contribute 70 percent of new value to the global economy in the next decade, radically altering the way we work. This transition has been underway for some time, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid growth of apps such as Uber and DoorDash.

Since 2020, millions of Americans have joined app-based platforms as drivers and delivery workers, transforming a nascent industry into a $150 billion global industry. The National Bureau of Economic Research documented this massive shift: Between 2020 and 2021, the gig economy added 3.1 million additional contractor workers, the majority of whom reported income from transportation and food delivery.

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