'Freelancers will play an integral role' in the post-coronavirus economy, says Freelancers Union President

Rafael Espinal, President of the Freelancers Union, joins The Final Round to discuss how the coronavirus stimulus bill is – or, is not – supporting freelance workers amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Video Transcript

JEN ROGERS: So as we've been talking about the economic fallout from the coronavirus, we have focused a lot on small businesses and what the stimulus coming out of Washington DC, if they can figure out the hurdles to get it, is going to do for them. But what about the smallest of small businesses, just one person, a freelancer?

Let's bring in Rafael Espinal. He's the Freelancers Union president. I've been a freelancer myself for many years. And you really find, when it is a downturn or when there is a crisis, how alone you are out there. In the coronavirus stimulus bill, what can freelancers, if anything, get out of it? Rafael, you've got to un-mute.

RAFAEL ESPINAL: Hey.

JEN ROGERS: Hey, how are you?

RAFAEL ESPINAL: Hey, sorry. Good, good. So before I go on to talk about the package, I really want to paint a picture of how large this workforce is. Across the country, we have about 57 million independent workers that contribute about $1 trillion to the nation's economy. So this is a large workforce that provides a lot of money to our country. So it was very important early on that no matter what stimulus package came out of Washington that it did include independent contractors because historically, they did not have a social safety net.

So we pushed for, as a union, to expand unemployment insurance to cover freelancers for the first time and also for the Payroll Protection Program that is being released this Friday to freelance workers so that they can have access to grants and low-interest loans to be able to get through the next few months.

JEN ROGERS: So getting through the next few months for freelancers, part of that is going to be getting back to work. Do you have confidence in what you're hearing that these jobs will be coming back? I mean, is it harder for somebody that's not getting furloughed, per se, to have that kind of visibility?

RAFAEL ESPINAL: Well, we ran a study of-- to our members and a survey looking at what they believe the impact would be on their way-- on their sources of income. Over 90% believe that over the next few months, they're going to have-- they're going to struggle trying to find new work. And of course, if we have all of these nonessential businesses that are put on pause, they're going-- there's no going to be-- there's not going to be any way in which they can recoup that income. So we need to make sure that the economy restarts, businesses are up and running so they have access to that work.

You know, historically, the trends have shown that through generations-- for example, millennials, 40% of millennials have reported to freelance, and now Gen Zers, 50% reported to freelance. That number only continues to grow. And if we don't act quickly enough, I am a bit concerned that there are going to be a lot of workers who are going to be concerned about whether or not they're going to have work and whether they're going to continue freelancing moving forward.

MELODY HAHM: Hey, Rafael. One of the core pieces of being a freelancer is many times people are having three, four, multiple jobs, right? And they're augmenting one income with another. Can you speak to how you envision people ending up back in the workforce? Because we know companies like Walmart and Amazon have really ramped up hiring. Do you anticipate those freelancers who go for those types of jobs to continue seeing that uncertain stability?

RAFAEL ESPINAL: Well, absolutely. And I think it's important to note that freelancers have turned to freelancing full time because they saw it as an opportunity to earn a higher income than what they were doing when they were working for an employer. But I do believe that freelancers learn to play an integral role in the ramp up of our economy moving forward.

You know, as businesses begin to rehire, independent contractors is an avenue for them to be able to get the labor they need to perform the specific tasks they need to get going. So I have no concern that the freelancers are going to play an integral role and there's going to be enough work going around for those workers that are looking for it right now.

JEN ROGERS: Rafael Espinal is Freelancers Union president. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us.