Freelance writer and lawyer, here. There are very few phrases that are more wrong than this one. Worker misclassification is *rampant* because businesses know that they can save money on Social Security, health insurance, and other administrative costs by using freelancers rather than employees. So they hire freelancers and then treat them as employees.

Don't get me wrong, AB-5 was a *wreck* and was completely unworkable. It went too far to clamp down on the misclassification problem by essentially eliminating freelancing, entirely. But Prop 22 and the status quo lets employers scalp their workers. I'm confident that a middle ground can be reached, and I'm happy that Biden and his administration intend to explore it.