The Workers Lab Announces Tech Solution That Helps Gig Workers Access Unemployment Benefits

OAKLAND, Calif., April 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Workers Lab is excited to announce a technology solution in partnership with Steady that assists gig workers in providing easily verifiable income documents, helping to secure life-saving unemployment benefits that keep workers and their families fed, housed, and supported.

"Our unemployment insurance system was designed largely to serve workers in traditional nine-to-five jobs, not for gig workers who are everything from domestic workers and farm workers to ride share drivers and grocery deliverers," said The Workers Lab CEO Adrian Haro. "The Workers Lab was glad to see gig workers receive access to unemployment assistance through the pandemic relief packages. However, state agencies are having a hard time administering unemployment benefits to gig workers. That's where The Workers Lab and our partners come in. We acted quickly to engage partners and develop, and test, a tech solution that's been informed by workers and effectively addresses the needs of state labor departments."

There are several reasons why processing unemployment benefits for gig workers has been marked by confusion, delay and inefficiency. Many gig workers are paid multiple sources, multiple times, and the unemployment system is not set up to verify gig workers' decentralized income sreams. This means that workers must patch together things like bank statements, app screenshots, and spreadsheets to try and report income in a way the state can verify. Once that information gets to unemployment agencies, state employees often have to manually piece all the paperwork together. That takes time and creates room for errors.

Steady, the leading income intelligence platform for 1099, gig, and hourly workers, will assist states in verifying workers' income to get unemployment benefits out more efficiently. Steady has already been used by The Workers Lab to verify workers' income and identify significant income loss during the pandemic. The result has been a distribution of $3.2M+ in emergency cash grants to workers in need through The Workers Lab's Innovation Fund. Steady and The Workers Lab have now partnered to develop and test this tech solution to more easily deliver unemployment benefits to gig workers. The app offers a streamlined reporting process to lower the burden for overwhelmed state unemployment agencies and minimize fraud. 

Read more about The Workers Lab Design Sprint at www.theworkerslab.com.

About The Workers Lab
At The Workers Lab, our purpose is to give new ideas about increasing worker power a chance to succeed and flourish, and new ideas about workers need a chance now perhaps more than ever before. Read more about why from our CEO, Adrian Haro.

About Steady
Launched in 2018, Steady puts tools into the hands of American workers to help them solve their increasing income challenges caused by wages not keeping up with costs of living, the reduction of available work hours at employers due to their driving efficiencies, and future job loss due to automation. Steady makes it easier than ever for workers to fill their income gaps, gain insights into their income, and improve their overall financial well-being. To date, the Steady app has been downloaded more than 2.3 million times.

Media Contact: Ariana Donaville, 510-847-3845

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SOURCE The Workers Lab

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