More than 100 million of our compatriots don’t have it—which poses all kinds of risks to the rest of us.
Before the pandemic, gig work had been a good choice for Jonathan Perales. He was a single parent in Arlington, Texas, trying to spend more time with his young daughter, and, he said, because driving for Uber, Uber Eats, and Postmates allowed him to make his own schedule, “when I’m with my daughter, I can be with her 100 percent. Then, when she’s with her mom, I can go out and work just as much as I need to to pay the bills.”