Misclassification of employees as independent contractors exacts an enormous toll on workers, law-abiding employers, and our economy. Accurate information on the prevalence of the problem, and on patterns of violations, can help government officials to direct their efforts at the worst violators and most problematic industries.

The UK’s micro business population is booming. Defined as firms with 0-9 employees, there are now 5m such businesses in the UK, up from 3.5m in 2000. In contrast, the populations of all other firm sizes have either increased only marginally or fallen over the same period. The result is that micro businesses today account...

Millions of workers do not have standard work arrangements—permanent jobs with a traditional employer-employee relationship. Rather, they are in temporary, contract, or other forms of non-standard employment arrangements in which they may not receive employer-provided retirement and health benefits, or have safeguards such as job-protected leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, even if they...

The sharing economy allows people to share property, resources, time and skills across online platforms. This can unlock previously unused, or under-used assets – helping people make money from their empty spare room and the tools in their sheds they use once a year. It allows people to go from owning expensive assets, such as...

The UK is experiencing a boom in microbusinesses and self-employment. Today there are 600,000 more microbusinesses (firms with zero to nine employees) in existence than there were when the recession first began in 2008, and 40 percent more than at the turn of the century. Likewise, the number of people working for themselves has increased...