A new Government Accountability Office report found that a growing number of gig economy workers earn so little that they rely on food stamps and Medicaid to make ends meet. Uber, Lyft and DoorDash are now among the top employers of safety-net recipients in several states. 

This is a symptom of a bigger problem – one unrelated to the impact of artificial intelligence on the job market. Rather, it has everything to do with how employers are rewriting the very rules of employment. Companies are increasingly stripping workers of employee status, along with the benefits and protections that a job has traditionally offered. 

And in doing so, they’re creating a disposable workforce.

When I say “disposable,” I mean something much bigger than the gig platform workers that typically come to mind, like Uber drivers and DoorDashers. The workers I’m talking about stretch across the economy. They include contractors, from building cleaners to travel nurses; freelancers, from gig drivers to high-end programmers; and what I call marginal workers, who are employees in name only while being disconnected from any career ladder. Think adjunct professors sidelined from the tenure track, staff attorneys who handle grunt work with no path to partnership, and large numbers of low-wage service workers and part-time employees in jobs engineered for high turnover. 

According to my research, 35% of U.S. workers – nearly 57 million people – are now disposable by design. 

Employers have practical financial reasons for these arrangements. Disposable work saves them money on........

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