State and local regulatory battles continue to plague sharing economy companies like Uber and Airbnb. However, their business models faced an existential—though underappreciated—threat from President Obama’s Department of Labor. In a positive step for independent workers and the consumers that they serve, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta rescinded the problematic Obama-era regulatory guidance on independent contractor status this month . Sharing-economy users and workers should celebrate this long-overdue change.

The problems started in summer 2015 when the then Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Commissioner David Weil issued an administrator’s interpretation that, if taken seriously by courts, would have made it more difficult for workers to be independent contractors. This so-called “guidance” could be more accurately deemed “lawmaking through blog post” because did not have to go before the public for comment and it was never voted on by Congress—even though it could have destroyed the work arrangements that have driven the sharing economy’s growth.

The interpretation threatened to turn people who partner with online platforms from independent contractors to employees, resulting in restricted flexibility and opportunity. Based on her public remarks on the sharing economy, Hillary Clinton would have likely embraced this regulatory change if she would have won the election. (For more information on this administrator’s interpretation, see my House Education and the Workforce Committee testimony.)

The debate over independent contractor status is driven by the declining power of labor unions and the rapid growth in independent work, as independent contractors accounted for nearly one-third of the jobs created from 2010 to 2014. Ultimately, the outdated union model is antithetical to the flexible, entrepreneurial workplace that many Americans—especially millennials—desire , and union membership is declining as a result.