The Two Faces of Freelancing

You’ve probably heard it said that the so-called “gig economy” is changing the nature of the American workforce—more for the worse, perhaps, than the better. Faced with post-recession unemployment and the wholesale disruption of many once-stable industries, more workers are freelancing and turning to “alternative” employment strategies to cobble together their livings, be it through Uber, Craigslist, professional contracts, or seasonal gigs. Even when they’re relatively well paying, freelance jobs aren’t often considered particularly desirable, since they often come without benefits and aren’t well recognized or protected by federal employment (and unemployment) programs.

But as the economy improves, the amount, perception, and desirability of freelance work seems to be changing—at least for certain kinds of gigs. Results from an online survey of roughly 6,000 working Americans by the online freelance job-board Upwork and the national Freelancers Union suggest that 55 million people, or roughly 35 percent of the U.S. workforce, made money by freelancing in 2016—up from 53 million in 2014 (the year of the organization’s first joint survey). That includes independent contractors, folks with multiple sources of income (like a part-time job, plus an Airbnb rental), moonlighters, freelance business owners, and temps. The cumulative growth among these job types doesn’t seem to driven solely out of necessity: According to this survey, fully 63 percent of freelancers said that they started freelancing out of choice, up 10 points since 2014. A majority also said that they saw having a “diversified portfolio of clients” as more stable than having a single employer. And about half of them said that there was “no amount of money” that could convince them to take a traditional job.