We are excited to announce that we have joined the Google.org Work Initiative portfolio, an innovative effort to search for new solutions to prepare people for the changing nature of work. Last year, Google.org committed $50 million to nonprofits experimenting with new ideas in skill-building, job matching, job quality, and the social safety net. We’re honored to receive grant funding from Google.org to support our efforts to improve economic security for independent workers through innovative portable benefits models.
For many Americans, work is becoming more independent, short-term, and project-based. However, the social safety net our nation built to help ensure economic security for hard-working Americans has not kept pace with changes in the economy. In particular, the suite of benefits and protections most workers access through employers which we know to be key foundations of individual and household financial stability.
A system of portable benefits, in which workers outside a traditional employer-employee relationship would have access to benefits they could take them from job to job, could help ensure that workers have stability and security in a changing economy. This grant will allow the Future of Work Initiative to continue our research into innovative portable benefits models and solutions for the growing independent workforce in the U.S.
“Through the Google.org Work Initiative, we’re supporting new efforts to help underserved communities prepare for and adapt to our rapidly changing economy. Google.org is proud to support the Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative as they rethink how portable benefits can help improve economic security for independent workers in the US.” — Andrew Dunckelman, Economic Opportunity Lead at Google.org.”
Google.org’s support will also help us to build a new digital resource that provides researchers, policymakers and journalists with a one-stop shop for data about the gig economy, and continue developing tools to help launch benefit programs for these workers.
Google.org is a leader in the future of work conversation, and we are proud to have their support for our work in this space.
