Beyond Jobs

The Hidden Workforce

 

Millions of adults can't commit to scheduled hours of work. They have unpredictable commitments that can disrupt each day. Some people's childcare, medical problems, family caregiving, or partial employment they enjoy, can fluctuate constantly.

 

For the higher skilled, finding work to fit around a complex life is manageable. Architects, consultants, or designers select projects on sites like Guru.com, do the work where/when they choose, upload it, and get paid. 

 

But workers in hospitality, retail, care, building, distribution, security, janitorial, and other huge sectors have to be somewhere at specified times for each work period. Finding local work at ever-changing times, gaining new skills, or progressing is often impossible.

 

These out-of-home nonstandard workers are easily overlooked. Official labor market data isn't granular enough to capture their activity. Government and philanthropic support for lower-skilled households trends towards traditional employment. Anyone who never knows when she can work won't fit such programs.

 

Growing numbers of breadwinners seeking work at hours that must be decided day-to-day has created opportunity for commercial "gig work" apps. They focus on cutting labor costs and deploying interchangeable workers quickly to meet buyers' needs. Protections, control for work-seekers, and progression opportunities are negligible. Off-the-books day labor is another common channel to nonstandard work. 

 

 

Workforce Development

 

Individuals who aren't lucky enough to have predictable availability deserve better than bare "survival work". Each person has unique lived experience, aspirations, and potential. They should be entitled to quality work at times they choose across their range of abilities, plus full employment rights, continuity of work relationships, and targeted upskilling; all underpinned by local data. 

 

Systemically, scalably, and sustainably elevating a region's nonstandard workforce like this is only viable with a sophisticated labor market platform.  It needs to be radically different from familiar Silicon Valley apps. 

 

That platform exists, created in British government programs, and now in a nonprofit for open sourcing. Branded GoodFlexi, it has been Americanized and launched by public agencies in California with Oregon and other US regions following in 2025.

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In each region, GoodFlexi fosters an eco-system of government bodies, community organizations, unions, educators, support groups and employers. They have unique leverage and incentives to unlock the potential of residents outside traditional labor market structures.

 

A healthy, locally controlled, market for nonstandard labor can address multiple challenges. They include, unlocking hidden workers for childcare or other areas of immediate need, facilitating incremental steps into the workforce for anyone not yet ready for regular employment, supportive interventions that target labor market strugglers, and structuring individual paths from ad-hoc work  into full time . 

 

 

Why now?

 

Nonstandard work is growing. Independently, both Gallup and Pew found around 35% of US adults relying on at least some "gig work", even before Covid.

 

We are steadily learning about these hard-pressed individuals. Communities of color, women, and the young are overrepresented in nonstandard work. Too often they are having 30% of earnings deducted in apps that secrete data while misleading work-seekers. A.I. is turbocharging these exploitative business models.

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Meanwhile, the Beyond Jobs program is enabling millions of dollars in high quality W2 employment for people on labor market fringes. We are generating data on appetite for a new model from public agencies, the outcomes, and emerging possibilities. A.I. in our tool can drive skills gain, interventions, and data gathering.

 

What does it take to move from mere deployment of ad-hoc labor to workforce development for people who aren't currently able to take a full-time or part-time job?

 

We have learned it starts with organizations focused on economic mobility, quality employment, anti-poverty initiatives, racial equity, or regional growth expanding their thinking beyond jobs to also embrace work-seekers with complex lives. > More details.

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