Following Congressional testimony, TWL CEO calls for fixes to the benefits system

After providing testimony in front of the U.S. House Congressional Subcommittee on Government Operations, our CEO Adrian Haro calls for the U.S. benefits system to be fixed for gig workers in a new RealClear Policy op-ed.

On March 31, The Workers Lab was honored to testify at a hearing on how to tackle “improper payments” coming out of government programs. This important subcommittee has the power to legislate changes across all federal agencies, and The Workers Lab was invited to speak because of our innovative effort with gig workers and Steady to develop an "income passport" – a tech solution that automates the process of verifying income in public benefits, which can help government tackle improper payments.

Our CEO, Adrian Haro, took the opportunity to share what we have learned from our work on an income passport.  He shared how our tests in Alabama and Louisiana proved to be a win/win for both the government and workers – our learnings have shown how worker-informed innovations can BOTH increase the efficiency of the government system AND make it more equitable and accessible for non-traditional gig and contract workers who have historically been excluded. Adrian urged members of the subcommittee to make innovations like our income passport scalable and part of the norm of administering government benefits. 

Today, we're excited to share an op-ed from our CEO that builds from his Congressional testimony with a call for more worker-centered and worker-informed solutions to advance the speed and efficiency of benefits distribution in ways that help workers everywhere get the support they and their families need.