Proof Point
Freelancers in the U.S. grew 1.7% yearly from 53 million in 2014 to 56.7 million in 2018, according to Upwork study
U.S. Freelancers
2014 – 2018F (millions of individuals and percentage of U.S. workforce)
| Note: | Data from Upwork’s 2018 Freelancing in America; results were collected from United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2017 Labor Force Statistics and Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey. |
Proof Point Findings
- Freelancers – Self-employed segment of U.S. labor force, working with clients on contractual or temporary basis
- U.S. Gig Economy – Upwork and Freelancers Union estimated U.S. freelance economy growth at 1.7% annually between 2014 and 2018, making up 35% of workforce or 56.7 million Americans in 2018, but declined slightly from 2017
- 2017 Five-Year Peak – Highest figure for five-year period was in 2017, with 57.3 million freelancers, made up of three types, namely with income coming from both traditional employers and freelance work (35%), traditional full-time freelancers (31%), and people with fixed, regular employment who also do freelance jobs, or moonlighters (23%)
- Key Drivers – Include proliferation of cloud-based freelance platforms (e.g. Upwork, Fiverr, 99 Designs) and crowd-based apps (e.g. Uber, YourMechanic, uShip), increasing dependence of companies on external staff, and intangible freelancing benefits, such as time and location flexibility, as well as work variety
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Accelerator |
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Market Disruption |
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Sector |
Cross-sector
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Date Last Updated |
March 27, 2019
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