In recent years, economists have noted a rise in the number of short term employment contracts. As automation continues to make job processes more efficient, employees can fulfil their job duties in much quicker time. As such, many employers are turning to contingent worker contracts. This allows business owners to only have employees around when they actually have a job for them to do.

The benefits for employers is quite evident. They can pay their contingent workers for fewer hours and don’t have to provide the same level of benefits as they would to a regular worker. They often term this employment contract as “free-lance labor.” While this technique saves money on the bottom line, it opens the way for the exploitation of employees. Some companies use this strategy as a way of underpaying those who work for them. In recent months, several Fortune 500 companies have come under fire for doing this, bringing the issue into the spotlight. When employees are working 40 hours a week for the same company on a fixed schedule, it is hard for an employer to justify not giving the worker a contract.

Recently, Uber has come under fire for not giving its drivers employee status. Some drivers argue that since they are working 40 hour weeks and have to adhere to strict standards, that Uber is implying an employment contract. If this were the case, drivers would be open to receive Social Security, health insurance, sick days, gas, car maintenance, and unemployment contributions from Uber. Still, Uber does not consider its relationship between its drivers and the company to be that of employment. Instead, Uber acts as a middleman, connecting people who want rides with people who want to give those rides. To ensure the quality of the service, Uber only allows drivers who can pass a background check and meet a series of requirements to participate. Uber does not tell the drivers when to drive, where to drive, nor does it provide vehicles and maintenance. As such, it is unreasonable to expect the company to pay a driver who decides to use its service. That would be the equivalent of Verizon paying someone for using its internet services.

Still, this debate does rise this question of what to do about the rising number of contingent workers. Under current regulation, these employees are viewed as self-employed and companies aren’t required to give them benefits for their work. As such, these contract laborers are left worse off than the full-time employees doing the same job. Countries such as Germany, Canada, and France have passed regulation to create a new category of workers labeled “Dependent Contractors.” These employees do the majority of their contract work for one company and are entitled to certain benefits in return. This disincentives companies from using contract labor as a way to cut down costs and promotes the fair treatments of workers.