Thank you for covering this so thoroughly! It's been interesting (and disappointing) to see the national press focus predominantly on the gig app industry when discussing these kinds of laws, rather than exploring their impact on creative freelancers and service providers.
For me, one of the bigger elements that's often missing from national reporting on these laws is how they strip freelancers of their power to establish their own rates, ethics, hours, working conditions, etc. AB-5 basically handed employers all the power, even though its proponents claimed they were empowering workers. For example, a freelance photographer that's used to seeing $250 for an editorial portrait assignment for a magazine might only be offered $17 per hour as an employee, while not being allowed to work for other magazines. And a photographer who isn't comfortable shooting certain types of content might have no choice in an employer-employee situation (other than quitting their entire job), even though as a freelancer they would have had the ability to decline the gig without taking much of a hit to their income, since they would typically have other clients to act as a buffer.
If you are a serious freelancer who gets up every day and hustles, and who learns to be a good negotiator of contracts and rates, then you can earn more than some staffers as a freelancer, and with a lot fewer corporate-style headaches. It's not for everyone, obviously, and it comes with challenges that staffers don't have to deal with, but there's a reason 80% of independent contractors tell the government we prefer to be independent contractors. People find the path that's best for them.
Thank you for covering this so thoroughly! It's been interesting (and disappointing) to see the national press focus predominantly on the gig app industry when discussing these kinds of laws, rather than exploring their impact on creative freelancers and service providers.
For me, one of the bigger elements that's often missing from national reporting on these laws is how they strip freelancers of their power to establish their own rates, ethics, hours, working conditions, etc. AB-5 basically handed employers all the power, even though its proponents claimed they were empowering workers. For example, a freelance photographer that's used to seeing $250 for an editorial portrait assignment for a magazine might only be offered $17 per hour as an employee, while not being allowed to work for other magazines. And a photographer who isn't comfortable shooting certain types of content might have no choice in an employer-employee situation (other than quitting their entire job), even though as a freelancer they would have had the ability to decline the gig without taking much of a hit to their income, since they would typically have other clients to act as a buffer.
Yes to everything you wrote!
If you are a serious freelancer who gets up every day and hustles, and who learns to be a good negotiator of contracts and rates, then you can earn more than some staffers as a freelancer, and with a lot fewer corporate-style headaches. It's not for everyone, obviously, and it comes with challenges that staffers don't have to deal with, but there's a reason 80% of independent contractors tell the government we prefer to be independent contractors. People find the path that's best for them.