Will COVID-19 employment insurance supports for gig economy workers be made permanent?
With the relentless cycle of COVID-19 news, it is easy to miss the historic income security policy changes being implemented in Canada, the US and other jurisdictions. These include one-time payments to families and enhanced refundable tax credits (are these the next step in expanding basic income supports?).
However, it is changes to unemployment/employment insurance benefits in Canada and the US that, for me, are most astonishing. Gig workers -- independent contractors, part-time workers and the self-employed – are generally not eligible for regular unemployment/employment insurance benefits. However, under announced COVID-19 measures, gig workers experiencing income loss will be eligible for substantial financial benefits – at least temporarily. In Canada this program will be called the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.
For more than a decade, policy advocates, economists and political parties have been calling on governments to create new employment insurance programs that would cover the large number of gig workers who pay into traditional employment insurance but rarely, if ever, receive benefits from these programs.
Governments should be looking closely at this experience and find ways to continue supports for workers in the gig economy -- even after the COVID-19 crisis has subsided.