According to a new report from MBO Partners - Independent Workers and the On-Demand Economy - about 2.7 million American independent workers report using at least one on-demand economy platform or marketplace as a source of work or income.
The study defined the on-demand economy as including:
- online product marketplaces provided by firms such as EBay, Amazon and Etsy and others (Craigslist was excluded).
- Online talent marketplaces such as Freelancer.com, Elance - oDesk, and others
- Sharing economy platforms and marketplaces such as Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, TaskRabbit and others
The online product platforms were most popular, with about 2.2 million U.S. independent workers reporting using them to generate income over the past year.
The online talent marketplaces came in second, with about 900,000 using them to generate work and the sharing economy platforms came in 3rd, with about 500,000 using them.
The majority of on-demand economy workers said they worked part-time (83%) and most (63%) said they did this type of work to supplement their income.
Independents working in the on-demand economy report strong satisfaction levels with 79% reporting they are either highly satisfied (61%) or satisfied (18%) with their work.
Only 9% reported being dissatisfied.
As the report chart below shows, almost half of those reporting working in the on-demand economy are millennials (ages 21-33).
Click here for the full report.
Emergent Research (that's us) partnered with MBO Partners on this study.
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