Trump's 'amazing' jobs numbers are due to people like me working into their 80s and stockpiling fish antibiotics

For seven years, the company I worked full-time for exploited a legal loophole that meant I had no social security, no healthcare and no expenses. I huddled under fleece blankets in the freezing cold waiting for clients, unable to turn on the heating in my car

Animal antibiotics such as these are often used by working class Americans who can't afford to have their savings wiped out by illness and whose jobs don't offer healthcare provisions (Reuters)

I’m 49 years old and I don’t have anything saved for retirement. It’s hard for me to admit this publicly. I’m ashamed and more than a little bit afraid about what it means for my future.

The main reason for this is that for much of my professional life, I’ve been classified as an independent contractor. It’s a legal loophole in the US which allows companies to harness the labour of an individual, often on a full-time basis, without actually hiring them. This distinction enables companies to avoid offering workers’ benefits, even basic healthcare.

I thought about this over the weekend when President Trump bragged about our nation’s job numbers on Twitter. A recent poll by NPR/Marist found that 20 per cent of Americans are currently classified as contract workers. I wondered how many of those jobs were being held by independent contractors who weren’t receiving any Social Security or healthcare. I also wondered if the president understood what life was like for them and what it could potentially mean to the country’s future.

My longest stint as an independent contractor for a single company was seven years as a salesperson for a large national flooring company. I was paid 100 per cent commission: no baseline salary at all. Between driving to appointments, phone calls, emails, paperwork, and mandatory meetings, I averaged 60-hour work weeks. The company required us to register as LLC’s (limited liability companies, a US-specific form of private limited company). This way, they could say we weren’t employees, we were business owners. They found a loophole in the system and they exploited it.

When I worked for the flooring company, we were required to drive our own vehicles to sales appointments without reimbursement for mileage, maintenance or gas. The wear and tear on our cars meant we constantly needed to replace our brakes, tires, and even the vehicles themselves. These expenses, although incurred on behalf of the company, had a way of coming at the worst time and depleting your savings account. When I waited for people to turn up for appointments they’d booked with me, I couldn’t afford to turn on the air conditioner in my car if it was very hot or the heating if it was very cold. A lot of my job involved waiting for half-hour stints in the shade or huddled under fleece blankets.

Independent contractors have to pay for our own health insurance or roll the dice and pay medical expenses out of pocket. I chose to self-diagnose via Google and stocked the medicine cabinet with fish antibiotics. It’s a more common method than you think.

A recent study by Prosperity Now found 40 percent of working Americans don’t have enough savings to survive even one missed pay-cheque. This reality is particularly brutal for independent contractors, who don’t receive paid time off for sick leave or vacations. A bout with the flu can easily interfere with your ability to pay rent, and vacations cost double because you have to pay for the trip and make up for the income you’ll lose while travelling.

The flooring company provided employees with a 401k with matching funds. Salespeople and installers weren’t allowed to contribute, no matter how long we’d been with the company. Between the lack of paid time off, health insurance, and expenses incurred on behalf of the company, I was never able to establish a retirement fund of my own. I’ll have to keep working as long as I can.

A year ago I started a new career as a writer. I chose this vocation partially because I can work anywhere as long as I have my laptop. I figure, if necessary, I can eventually relocate someplace cheaper to live than Seattle. Also, the flooring samples I used to carry were heavy and writing isn’t nearly as physically demanding. This means I can work longer as my body ages. There’s nothing preventing me from working into my seventies or eighties as long as my faculties remain sharp. I expect I’ll need to.

I realise I’m lucky. Not everyone can become a writer. I worry about what will become of the other independent contractors when their bodies grow too old to perform their jobs, especially the ones who work with their hands.

These are the people who drive you to the airport, sell you products, lay your carpet, and write code for your favourite websites. What will happen to them when they’re unable to work anymore?

If we allow companies to continue exploiting loopholes, I fear we’ll find out. And no amount of rhetoric about “people in work” will help our country then.