Rethinking Worker Benefits for an Economy in Flux經(jīng)濟(jì)變遷中的員工福利

羅伯特·馬克西姆　馬克·穆羅

The so-called “gig economy” continues to grow. In January， the ride-hailing company Lyft announced it had 1.4 million drivers in the United States， meaning its free agent workforce—which lacks access to common benefits such as employer-sponsored healthcare—had doubled during 2017.

And yet， Lyft drivers’ lack of access to basic benefits is hardly exclusive to Lyft and ride-sharing.

Looking more broadly， such contracting for work is up all across the economy. For nearly two decades， in fact， the growth of nonemployer firms， or firms that have no employees and mostly constitute incorporated self-employed freelancers （workers in the “gig economy”）， has consistently outpaced traditional payroll growth， as is visible here：

Overall， nonemployer firms have grown by 2.6 percent a year， while payroll employment has grown by only 0.8 percent annually. Nor is it just independent contractors that are proliferating amid shakier benefits arrangements. More and more workers， as it happens， are finding that their work in an increasingly “contingent” economy leaves them without the array of benefits that have historically come from traditional employment. Some of them lack a reliable income stream. Others are missing out on such standard assurances as paid leave， employer-sponsored healthcare， retirement contributions， and disability insurance. In fact， millions of wage employees in multiple large industries， such as retail or food services， face similar challenges.

Which is why more and more parties on both the right and left are saying that we need to develop new frameworks and models for providing workers with a minimum increment of support. A sounder set of benefits and safety net provisions for workers appears urgently necessary to make the very real risks and hardships of economic change in an era of digitalization seem tolerable.

As to the needed responses， one is surely the development of portable benefits—a form of benefits now garnering more interest for its value in helping workers gain and maintain supports regardless of who they are working for and on what terms. What do portable benefits look like？ The Aspen Institute defines portable benefits as having three characteristics：

· Workers own their benefits （i.e. they are not tied to a specific job or company）

· Companies make contributions at a fixed rate based on how much a worker works for them

· The benefits cover independent workers， not just traditional employees

These arrangements aren’t new： author Steven Hill highlights existing industry-based benefits systems such as “multiemployer plans” used by construction workers and “multiple employer welfare arrangements” used by business associations going back years. Yet novelty isn’t necessary. What’s really needed are solid responses that help workers gain a measure of the peace of mind that the contingent economy does not now provide.

So who’s doing what to advance the ball？ To date， the federal government has largely abdicated its responsibility. In Congress， members of both the House and Senate introduced bills last year to create a $20 million fund to issue grants to state and local governments piloting portable benefit systems. While the Senate bill was ostensibly bipartisan， with Democrat Mark Warner sponsoring and Republican Todd Young cosponsoring， it appears to have died in committee. The House bill has met a similar fate.

What is more， the federal government has actually made it harder for states to expand the reach of certain benefits. Last year， President Trump signed bills repealing protections for cities and states that established automatic IRA programs—a policy that was widely seen as a nonpartisan solution for expanding access to saving for retirement. Meanwhile， Trump’s Department of Labor ended the Obama-era myRA program aimed at helping low- and middle-income workers start to save for retirement.

And yet， all is not lost. Happily， state and local governments aren’t waiting on the federal government to improve the portability of benefits. Efforts to expand benefits for both independent contractors and wage workers are moving forward across the country.

State governments in Washington， California， New York， and New Jersey are all exploring how to best implement a portable benefits system. A Washington state bill would require companies providing services to consumers and using workers taxed under 1099 status to make contributions to nonprofit “benefit providers.” Companies would be required to contribute an amount determined by the state to cover industrial insurance （worker’s compensation）. In addition， companies would contribute the lesser of 15 percent of the fee collected from a consumer per transaction， or $2 for every hour a worker provided services， to cover other benefits. The benefits would be chosen by the benefit provider with worker input， and could include health insurance， paid time off， and retirement contributions， among others. Furthermore， the Washington state legislation would prohibit companies from willfully misclassifying employees as independent contractors.

Other state and local efforts are seeking to expand coverage of specific benefits. Despite the lack of federal support， last year Oregon launched an automatic IRA plan， OregonSaves， which will ensure every employee in the state has access to a portable retirement account. Today， employers with over 100 employees that do not already offer retirement benefits must automatically enroll workers in a state-sponsored Roth IRA. By 2020， the provision will extend to all employers. Currently， independent contractors aren’t eligible to participate. Oregon should extend the program to require that companies using independent contractors automatically enroll those workers in the program as well.

Similarly， there is a growing movement among cities and states to provide paid sick and family leave to workers. Nine states and over 30 municipalities have enacted paid sick leave， while five states and Washington， D.C. have paid family leave policies. Several recently enacted paid leave laws explicitly allow independent contractors to opt in. Among them is Washington state. Workers who are independent contractors can choose to pay premiums at the same rate as payroll employees， and receive equivalent benefits. The state should consider linking this system to its broader portable benefits effort.

The American economy is changing. The rapid growth of firms like Lyft shows that emerging tech platforms are here to stay. Technological change benefits consumers and powers growth， but it also stratifies the U.S. workforce and exacerbates problems like contingent work. Policymakers must work quickly to respond to this new challenge and build an effective social safety net for the modern economy. If they don’t， a growing number of workers risk getting left behind.

所謂的“零工經(jīng)濟(jì)”持續(xù)增長。2018年1月，網(wǎng)約車公司來福車宣布在美國已有140萬名司機(jī)，這意味著該公司的自由員工（沒有雇主承擔(dān)的醫(yī)療保健等常見福利）人數(shù)在2017年增長了一倍。

不過，來福車司機(jī)不能享受基本的福利待遇，這并非來福車公司和網(wǎng)約車企業(yè)特有的情況。

更廣泛地來看，這類合約工作在整體經(jīng)濟(jì)中呈上升趨勢。實(shí)際上，近20年來，非雇主企業(yè)的增長速度一直超過傳統(tǒng)受雇員工的增長，這類企業(yè)沒有雇員，主要由自行經(jīng)營業(yè)務(wù)的自由職業(yè)者（也就是“零工經(jīng)濟(jì)”中的員工）組成。

總體來看，非雇主企業(yè)的年增長率為2.6%，而受雇員工人數(shù)每年僅增長0.8%。在福利待遇更不穩(wěn)定的背景下，不是只有獨(dú)立合約員工大量出現(xiàn)。事實(shí)上，越來越多的員工發(fā)現(xiàn)，在日趨普遍的“臨時(shí)”經(jīng)濟(jì)中工作，讓他們無法享有傳統(tǒng)就業(yè)曾帶來的一系列福利。有些員工缺乏可靠的收入來源，有些則無法得到帶薪休假、雇主承擔(dān)的醫(yī)療保健、退休供款和傷殘保險(xiǎn)等正常保障。實(shí)際上，在零售或餐飲等多個(gè)主要行業(yè)，數(shù)以百萬的受薪雇員也面臨類似的難題。

這就是為什么越來越多的政黨（包括右翼和左翼黨派）都表示，我們需要制定新的框架和模式，為員工提供最低增幅的支持。為了把數(shù)字化時(shí)代經(jīng)濟(jì)變革的真正風(fēng)險(xiǎn)和困難保持在可接受的水平，為員工打造更健全的福利和安全體系似乎刻不容緩。

至于需要采取的應(yīng)對(duì)措施，有一項(xiàng)肯定是制定“流動(dòng)福利”，這種福利形式現(xiàn)正吸引越來越多的關(guān)注，因?yàn)樗鼘?duì)幫助員工獲得和維持福利保護(hù)有重要意義，無論他們?yōu)檎l工作、以什么形式工作。流動(dòng)福利是什么樣的？阿斯彭研究所給出了定義，流動(dòng)福利有三個(gè)特征：

·員工擁有自己的福利（即他們不受特定工作或公司的約束）

·企業(yè)根據(jù)員工為企業(yè)所做的工作，按照固定比例繳納養(yǎng)老金

·這些福利適用于獨(dú)立員工，而不僅是傳統(tǒng)雇員

這些做法并不新鮮：作家史蒂文·希爾強(qiáng)調(diào)了現(xiàn)有以行業(yè)為基礎(chǔ)的福利制度，比如建筑工人使用的“多雇主計(jì)劃”，以及商業(yè)協(xié)會(huì)多年來采用的“多雇主福利安排”。標(biāo)新立異其實(shí)沒什么必要，真正需要的是可靠的應(yīng)對(duì)措施，可以幫助員工獲得某種程度的安全感，而這是臨時(shí)經(jīng)濟(jì)目前無法提供的。

那么由誰來推動(dòng)呢？迄今為止，聯(lián)邦政府基本上放棄了自己的責(zé)任。2017年，國會(huì)參眾兩院議員提出一項(xiàng)議案，擬設(shè)立一個(gè)2000萬美元的基金，向各州和地方政府撥款進(jìn)行流動(dòng)福利制度試點(diǎn)。盡管參議院的法案表面上是兩黨合作，由民主黨議員馬克·華納與共和黨議員托德·揚(yáng)共同發(fā)起，但似乎已經(jīng)在委員會(huì)中途夭折。眾議院的法案也遭遇了類似的命運(yùn)。

此外，聯(lián)邦政府實(shí)際上使各州更難擴(kuò)大某些福利的覆蓋面。2017年，特朗普總統(tǒng)簽署的法案廢除了各個(gè)城市和州建立自動(dòng)個(gè)人退休賬戶計(jì)劃的保障政策，這項(xiàng)政策此前被廣泛視為擴(kuò)大退休儲(chǔ)蓄范圍的無黨派解決方案。與此同時(shí)，特朗普的勞工部終結(jié)了奧巴馬時(shí)代旨在幫助中低收入員工開始為退休儲(chǔ)蓄的邁拉計(jì)劃。

然而，也并不是全無希望。令人欣慰的是，各州和地方政府沒有坐等聯(lián)邦政府改善福利的流動(dòng)性。全美各地都在采取舉措來增加獨(dú)立合約員工和受薪雇員的福利。

在華盛頓州、加利福尼亞州、紐約州和新澤西州，各州政府都在探索如何以最妥善的方式落實(shí)流動(dòng)福利制度。華盛頓州的一項(xiàng)法案要求提供消費(fèi)者服務(wù)、雇用以1099表格報(bào)稅的員工的企業(yè)向非營利“福利供應(yīng)商”繳納供款。這些企業(yè)將被要求繳納該州規(guī)定數(shù)額的費(fèi)用，以覆蓋工業(yè)保險(xiǎn)（工傷補(bǔ)償）。此外，企業(yè)將提供一筆款項(xiàng)用于支付其他福利：或者每筆交易收取消費(fèi)者費(fèi)用的15%，或者提供服務(wù)的員工每工作1小時(shí)算2美元，二者取其低者。福利提供者將根據(jù)員工意見選擇這些福利計(jì)劃，可能包括醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)、帶薪休假和退休供款等。另外，華盛頓州的這項(xiàng)法案將禁止公司故意將雇員錯(cuò)劃為獨(dú)立合約員工。

其他州和地方正在努力擴(kuò)大特定福利的覆蓋范圍。盡管缺乏聯(lián)邦政府的支持，俄勒岡州仍然在2017年啟動(dòng)了名為“俄勒岡儲(chǔ)蓄”的自動(dòng)個(gè)人退休賬戶計(jì)劃，該計(jì)劃將確保俄勒岡州的每位雇員都能開設(shè)流動(dòng)退休賬戶。如今，擁有超過100名雇員但尚未提供退休福利的雇主必須自動(dòng)將員工納入政府資助的“羅斯個(gè)人退休賬戶”。到2020年，這項(xiàng)規(guī)定將擴(kuò)大到所有雇主。目前，獨(dú)立合約員工沒有參與的資格。俄勒岡州應(yīng)該擴(kuò)展這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃，要求雇用獨(dú)立合約員工的公司自動(dòng)將這些員工納入該計(jì)劃。

同樣，各個(gè)城市和州為員工提供帶薪病假和家庭休假的舉措也越來越多。9個(gè)州和30多個(gè)城市頒布了帶薪病假， 5個(gè)州和華盛頓特區(qū)制定了帶薪家庭休假政策。最近頒布的幾部帶薪休假法都明確允許獨(dú)立合約員工選擇加入。華盛頓州就是其中之一。作為獨(dú)立合約員工的勞動(dòng)者可以選擇以受薪雇員相同的費(fèi)率支付保費(fèi)，獲得同等的福利待遇。華盛頓州應(yīng)該考慮把這個(gè)制度與更廣泛的流動(dòng)福利舉措結(jié)合起來。

美國經(jīng)濟(jì)正在發(fā)生變化。來福車等企業(yè)的快速發(fā)展表明，新興科技平臺(tái)將繼續(xù)存在。技術(shù)變革有利于消費(fèi)者和推動(dòng)經(jīng)濟(jì)增長，但也讓美國勞動(dòng)力階層分化，加劇了臨時(shí)工作等問題。政策制定者必須迅速開展工作，應(yīng)對(duì)這一全新挑戰(zhàn)，為現(xiàn)代經(jīng)濟(jì)打造有效的社會(huì)安全體系。如果他們不行動(dòng)起來，越來越多的勞動(dòng)者可能會(huì)被拋在后面。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸?/p>