WASHINGTON—Today the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) announced that seven states—Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania—have been selected to participate in a new multistate collaborative project that will support state efforts to analyze and understand the on-demand economy in their respective states and take action to identify policies to support economic opportunity for on-demand workers. The on-demand economy includes workers who rely on project or task-based activities outside of traditional forms of full-time salaried or hourly wage work.
While new employment models promise new flexibilities and opportunities for workers and businesses, they also present fresh challenges to traditional models for providing workforce services, training and labor benefits. Accounting for on-demand work is difficult, but some analysts find that as much as 20 percent of individuals are working in this informal economy. Those states that are proactive and innovative will be best positioned to benefit from the positive changes and to address the challenges.
Funded by Walmart and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the state collaborative will help states undertake immediate actions to define and understand the changing nature of work in their states, and then prioritize policy actions they can take to assist both youth and adults to engage in meaningful work opportunities. Through the project, states will share best practices and develop innovative ideas.
To learn more about the NGA Center Economic Opportunity Division, click here.
