McKinsey's Freelance, side hustles, and gigs: Many more Americans have become independent workers, covers the results from their American Opportunity study.
And this study found that independent work is booming. Key quote:
"... a remarkable 36 percent of employed respondents—equivalent to 58 million Americans when extrapolated from the representative sample—identify as independent workers. This figure represents a notable increase since we estimated the US independent workforce in 2016 at 27 percent of the employed population."
The study asks survey respondents to self-identify as independent workers. Those answering yes to either, or both, of these questions are considered to be independent:
- "Is your current job as a contract, freelance, or temporary worker?"
- "Would you consider yourself a gig worker or part of the gig economy?"
The article covers a range of data from the study, but the data on how workers view economic opportunity jumped out at us (click to enlarge the chart below). Key quote:
"Given the broad range of reasons why people work independently, it's surprising how united this group is in one distinct characteristic: they are among the most optimistic workers in the country."
Striking out on one's own requires a certain amount of optimism. So it's not surprising to us that independent workers, on average, are more optimistic about their economic opportunities than workers overall.
