Full Support for People on Work Requirements
From January 2027 millions of Americans will find receipt of key public assistance dependent on proof of 80 hours "work-activity" the previous month. This offers a unique chance to tackle a growing issue in any regional labor market; problems faced by people needing employment but not a job.
Rather than spending on costly, risky, technologies to audit work-related activity from ad-hoc sources, states could instead launch a platform that finds residents the work they need then automates all reporting. The labor market platform required was developed in UK government programs and has been launched by public agencies in the US.
BACKGROUND: Mandated Monitoring of Irregular Work
From 2027, Work Requirements will force millions of SNAP or Medicaid eligible recipients to prove they completed a minimum 80 hours work related activity each month. Many already meet this threshold but will struggle to prove it.
Current labor market infrastructure connecting people to nonstandard employment is terrible. Much of it involves illegal off-the-books work or exploitative "gig work" apps. There are no protections, control or progression and often not even paperwork. There is no equivalent of state job-matching services​ for gig work.
Meanwhile, in any region, over a third of adults now seek work but not a job. (Official BLS data is not granular enough to capture this trend.) For these breadwinners, employment must fit around day-to-day uncertainties in their childcare, medical issues, family caregiving, studying or partial employment they wish to retain. Many rely on public assistance alongside their earnings.
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Thus, states face two possibilities in response to new work requirement obligations:
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Narrow Interpretation: Workforce agencies could continue to target their labor market services exclusively at residents fortunate enough to have regular availability for employment who can take a job. People with more complex lives are simply left to use gig work apps, or word of mouth contacts, to find the periods of work they need. The state then spends on technology that attempts to verify these ad-hoc, low quality, often questionable, work periods across disparate channels.
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Work First: States could recognize a broad cross-section of their citizens need work to fit around complexities in their life. And many local businesses need top-up labor. The state could extend its labor market infrastructure to also serve this vital part of the local economy, setting standards and rules. A regional platform for hour-by-hour labor focused on getting people the work they need can easily then report in granular detail on work activities with multiple layers of verification.
The two paths are detailed below.
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PATH 1: Narrow Interpretation
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In this route to compliance, states merely do what's needed to obey DH&HS reporting requirements. Multiple vendors offer them a variety of tools across a spectrum of 7 technologies:
Click on any cutting to open report
Some of these systems offer add-ons such as financial services or CV production. But striving to audit and analyze so much data from an array of sources will reamain complex and uncertain. It can result in more being spent on administration than health.
Two other key takeaways from states that took an early lead in work requirements:
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"Time Taxes": Reporting on the work you have done is onerous and unproductive. It is sometimes defined as an additional tax that people outside standard employment must pay to access services.
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Employment support adds further costs: Independent reporting centered the importance of boosting employment for enrolees. This becomes a separate silo of expenditure alongside monitoring. In June 2025, as one example, Kentucky's Governor requested federal permission to test proactive outreach to enrolees with proposals for job/training replacements from the state workforce agency.
PATH 2: Work First
Instead of leaving residents who need fluid partial employment to the mercies of gig work startups, or informal, possibly cash-under-the-table, employment, states could instigate their own regionally controlled platform for all types of hour-by-hour labor. This addresses multiple problems as local economies evolve, including need to report activity for work requirements.
The mission here is to systemically help people with complex lives find the very flexible periods of work they need while ensuring each individual has control over their hours, progression pathways and protections, including W-2 status. It is only viable with a sophisticated, empowering, platform for hour-by-hour labor across any region. That can automatically meet reporting requirements across all sorts of activity as a by-product of its core function; getting each person the hours they need at the highest pay with pathways to full time or whatever goals each person has.
This platform, GoodFlexi, came out of UK government programs to bring people with complex lives - who can't commit to regular work schedules - into the mainstream economy. GoodFlexi now sits in a nonprofit and has been Americanized with funding from major US philanthropies. A first proof of concept is currently expanding in Los Angeles County while other regions are building plans for launch. It won US Conference of Mayors' prize for best job or economic development initiative in America.
As states consider expensive digital systems for surveillance of people already pushed to the margins of labor markets by their life circumstances, we invite leaders to think holistically. Countless blue-collar breadwinners need to fit work around their life uncertainties. A figure of 36% of adults in this category was arrived at independently by both Gallup and McKinsey, even pre-pandemic. Lacking professional qualifications, at-home freelancing is not an option for lower-skilled adults. To deliver their potential in any local economy, they need a better labor market.
GoodFlexi is uniquely sophisticated (but easy to use). It is under local control with local branding for every region. There is more detail on its wider applications at www.BeyondJobs.org
Unlocking potential for vulnerable workers, improving local labor market data and broadening public services - possibly generating new revenue streams - are all viable with GoodFlexi. It is ready to go and can also audit study periods, job search or interview time.
We are keen to talk to innovators willing to consider possibilities, beyond just increased scrutiny, for their residents working around complex life circumstances.
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