by Robert Carbery
In mid-October, Upwork, a global freelancing platform where businesses and individual freelance workers connect and collaborate online, released the results of a new study on the gig economy, in conjunction with Freelancers Union, titled “Freelancing in America: 2017” — the most comprehensive measure of the U.S. independent workforce.
This is the fourth annual study of the 57.3 million American freelance workers, which amounts to 36 percent of the U.S. workforce. This chunk of the world’s top economy contributes around $1.4 trillion per year, an almost 30 percent increase year-over-year, per Upwork’s report.
The amazing takeaway from the world’s largest freelancing website is that the majority of the U.S. workforce will be freelancers by 2027 if current trends hold. We could get to over half of the working public deciding to be freelancers within the next decade. The current growth rate of the freelance economy is likely to continue since people seem to be choosing freelancing by choice. The study showed that 63 percent of freelancers said they chose their line and mode of work by choice, up 10 points since 2014.
Some stability comes with freelance work, despite what most people think. Freelancers in the study said they think a diverse portfolio of clients is more secure than having just one employer to rely on. However, the income predictability can be tough to get a financial budget going for many freelancers. The study found that many freelancers dip into savings more often full time employees.
“We are in the Fourth Industrial Revolution — a period of rapid change in work driven by increasing automation, but we have a unique opportunity to guide the future of work and freelancers will play more of a key role than people realize,” said Stephane Kasriel, CEO of Upwork. “Professionals who choose to freelance make this choice knowing that, as their own boss, they are in control of their destiny. Freelancers therefore think more proactively about market trends and refresh their skills more often than traditional employees, helping advance our economy.”
This sector of the economy is growing and showing few signs of slowing down.
America’s freelance workforce grew faster than the overall workforce, far outpacing the overall U.S. workforce since 2014, numbering 53 million in 2014 and jumping up to 57.3 million this year — 8.1 percent growth versus 2.6 percent for the whole economy.
And yet, we could get to the majority of the workforce being freelancers sooner than you think if you dig into the preferences of the overly studied Millennial generation, now our country’s largest chunk of the workforce. 47 percent of this group of young professionals already freelance, a rate higher than any other generation. If Millenials get their asses to work we could see this freelance proportion of the overall economy spike even more.
But why are people choosing to freelance?
Freelancing as a career option is becoming more positive and the freelance job market seems to be greatly updated over the last few years. Career options for freelancers are being found online as 71 percent of freelancers reported getting their gigs over the internet, up 5 points from just last year.
The top motivators for people choosing freelance are:
- To be their own boss
- To choose when they work
- To choose their own projects
- To choose where they work
- To earn money
Add this freelance economy onto the Uber economy and the Airbnb lodging industry and you’ve got a shifting underbelly to our overall economy. Freelancers are looking for flexibility and work in a different kind of way. Independent workers and freelancers seek to make what they can to provide for their families while providing a service and fulfilling their lives. Something we all do. Things are different and the developing gig economy and freelance economy are leading the charge on today’s latest trends.
Where do we go from here?
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won’t work nobody wants to hire a BLACK HISTORY expert at any price.
our kids can’t tie their shoe laces so they use velcro, telling time is totally out of the question.
Your not really Freelancing. If there is a parasite between you and your customers.
Freelancing is about independence not dependence.
It’s the rent-seeker economy.
Agreed,
More and more companies insist on very invasive background, driving, credit and even movie rental history that those of us that care about our privacy don’t want to hand out. I’ve even had companies looking to hire me for independent contractor work want me to submit to random drug testing. I don’t take drugs, but I’m not going to drop other work to drive 2 hours to pee in a cup on demand to prove it. Since they weren’t going to provide me with a vehicle and I wasn’t going to be handling money, they have no need for the other things either.
I like working independently. I can do errands during the day when stores are open. I don’t have to battle traffic twice a day and I can schedule time off to go and watch a total eclipse or meet up with a friend that will in town for a few days. I enjoy working, but there is far more to life than going to work 50 weeks a year.
Same as in Britain. The race to the bottom means not only will some workers undercut each other in the same country, but soon capital will have a mechanism to force workers in the west to undercut Chinese workers over there or robots over here. “Wanna job? It’s low wages and no union, or we send it to China or get the robot in. It’s your call.”