What You Should Know About the Gig Economy (And Why You Should Care!): Part I of III
Why Everyone Is Talking About the Gig Economy
At its current pace, the gig economy could become most of the workforce by 2027 – that’s in less than a decade! Whether you participate in the gig economy yet or not, it’s here to stay and could provide a valuable opportunity down the line.
Gig work is more than just driving for Lyft or GrubHub deliveries. Gig workers, or freelancers, are those who engage in supplemental, temporary, and project or contract-based work. To fully understand how the gig economy has grown, in 1995 the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated 9.3% of the workforce was contingent. Today, it’s estimated that 36% of the workforce participates in the gig economy. This freelance workforce has grown three times faster than the US workforce overall since 2014.
In 2017, there were a little over 57 million of them. Over half of current freelancers started in the past 3 years. No two gig workers do it the same way. One may work part-time at a start-up while also building a consulting business. Others may work full time then moonlight as a coder, sell their art on Etsy, or manage an AirBnB.
About 60% of gig workers’ still make a living from their traditional employment, but supplement with a side hustle or two. The other 40% of freelancers are mainly made up of independent contractors with freelance business owners taking up a small subset. Though most gig workers earn their primary income through traditional employment, the number of freelancers now working their gigs full time has risen.
The gig workforce is not limited to millennials either. While more than half of freelancers are under 30, a solid third are over 50. Alternative work like side hustles or freelancing is more common among older and more highly educated workers. This time it’s not just millennials who are killing the traditional 9 to 5!
With the Great Recession of 2008 now firmly in the past and nearly record low unemployment rates, the gig economy’s growth appears largely independent of recession job losses. Had the Great Recession been a major motivator of the gig economy growth, the number of freelancers would have dwindled by now. Instead it has done the opposite.
So if the Great Recession hasn’t driven the growth of the gig economy, what has? Part II: The Drivers of the Gig Economy holds the answer and the other parts of our series have more great information!
Ready to dip your toe into the gig economy? We’ve got some great opportunities here at Team Red Dog!