Gig work, otherwise known as freelance work, was once held up as an entry into the entrepreneurial economy for many people seeking to dip their toes in, but that economy is currently threatened by people who do not understand its vitality for freelance entrepreneurs. There is now a push, from policy makers and a few gig contractors who think it is in the best interest of gig workers and gig employers, to professionalize the gig economy.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal interviewed gig contractors and policy makers, who explained what professionalizing the gig economy would look like if demands are met. The article describes the policies they seek to enact, which eliminate the incentives that make the gig economy attractive for those who enjoy its flexibility and freelance work options. The new mandates will undoubtedly raise business costs for employers and inadvertently shut out the people the gig economy should help: unskilled college students with little to no real work experience, retirees, stay-at-home parents, and, of course, budding entrepreneurs. Professionalizing the gig sector will bog it down with unnecessary new requirements that will destroy it.