March 27, 2023

Kardama

Moving Forward

Upwork Study Finds 60 Million Americans Freelancing in 2022

SAN FRANCISCO–(Business WIRE)–Upwork (Nasdaq: UPWK), the world’s get the job done marketplace that connects firms with unbiased expertise, now unveiled the final results of “Freelance Forward: 2022,” the most detailed review of the U.S. unbiased workforce, which identified that 60 million People in america done freelance get the job done in the previous 12 months, symbolizing 39% of the entire U.S. workforce.

Upwork’s study uncovered American freelancers contributed $1.35 trillion in yearly earnings to the U.S. overall economy, $50 billion much more than in 2021. With the existing financial uncertainty, alongside with the increase of actions these as “The Excellent Resignation” and “Quiet Quitting,” lots of pros are going through a as soon as-in-a-era reassessment of what it usually means to have a satisfying occupation.

“Freelancing carries on to attain level of popularity amongst experienced pros as much more people assess their priorities and values all-around function,” stated Margaret Lilani, VP of talent solutions at Upwork. “The 9-to-5, in-workplace, solitary employer design is not what all men and women want anymore. Instead, freelancing lets specialists to create meaningful occupations with the perform and shoppers that they pick out, and many are using advantage of this prospect.”

Substantial swaths of the U.S workforce are redefining what operate implies outside of standard vocation pathways and are searching for out possibilities. The outcome: a report quantity of specialists turned to freelancing in 2022.

Vital results of the report include:

  • Freelancing stays a important section of the U.S. labor market and economic system: Freelancers contributed $1.35 trillion to the U.S. economic system in yearly earnings in 2022, up $50 billion from 2021.
  • Freelancing hits an all-time superior: The share of gurus freelancing greater to 60 million Us residents, up 3 percentage points from 2021 to 39%.1
  • Perceptions of freelancing continue on to change: Approximately 3-quarters of freelancers (73%) say that perceptions of freelancing as a occupation are getting a lot more optimistic, up from 68% in 2021.2
  • Gen Z and Millennials are the most likely to investigate freelancing: In 2022, 43% of all Gen Z experts and 46% of all Millennial pros performed freelance get the job done.
  • Around 50 percent of freelancers deliver awareness expert services: 51% of all freelancers, or just about 31 million professionals, furnished understanding services this kind of as computer programming, marketing, IT, and company consulting in 2022.
  • Diversified employees grow to be far more widespread: 17% of U.S. staff are now diversified, meaning they find various resources of income from a blend of conventional work and freelance function, up 3 proportion details from 2021.
  • Freelancing carries on to mature amongst the most educated: 26% of all U.S. freelancers maintain a postgraduate degree, up from 20% in 2021.

To read the comprehensive report, check out www.upwork.com/investigation/freelance-forward-2022.

About Freelance Ahead

To see even further insights, make sure you take a look at www.upwork.com/investigate/freelance-ahead-2022. The examine is performed by impartial exploration business Edelman Details & Intelligence. 3,000 U.S. functioning older people more than the age of 18 were surveyed for it on line concerning September 21, 2022 – October 7, 2022. Of those, 1,164 ended up freelancers and 1,836 ended up non-freelancers. Benefits had been gathered to make certain demographic illustration in line with the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2022 Labor Drive Data from the Existing Population Survey and the American Group Survey. The review has an overall margin of mistake of ±1.8% at the 95% level of self confidence. Freelancers: ±2.9%, Non-freelancers: ±2.3%

About Upwork

Upwork is the world’s operate market. We serve absolutely everyone from a person-man or woman startups to over 30% of the Fortune 100 with a effective, belief-driven platform that allows corporations and expertise to function together in new methods that unlock their probable. Our talent community acquired around $3.3 billion on Upwork in 2021 across extra than 10,000 techniques in classes which include web site & app development, inventive & style and design, client support, finance & accounting, consulting, and functions. Learn extra at upwork.com and be part of us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

1 Centered on September non-farm payrolls of 153 million

2 For freelancers who have been freelancing before COVID-19