NC Should Pay Attention to the Portable Benefits Moment

Liya Palagashvili February 16, 2026

The Carolina Journal View Original Source

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I started researching self-employment and independent work over a decade ago because I’d been exposed to it my whole life — my parents were self-employed — and I could see it growing steadily since at least the 1990s. What intrigued me was a persistent puzzle: Most people in this workforce wanted to stay independent, yet they also wanted access to benefits like health insurance and retirement savings. Why couldn’t these two coexist? The demand was clearly there — but the supply was not.

Over time, the answer became clearer. The problem wasn’t a lack of interest from workers or even businesses. It was the law.

Read the full piece here.