Accelerated by COVID-19 and an uncertain job outlook, more than a third of the American workforce did some freelance work on the side this year. According to a new Freelance Forward report released on Tuesday by Upwork, this means 59 million Americans are now freelancing. This number is up by more than 2 million from 2019.
The study also found that freelancers contributed $1.2 trillion to the U.S. economy this year, which is a 22% increase over last year. As a sign of things to come, virtually all recent freelancers surveyed plan to continue doing some projects on the side.
As more companies go remote and adapt to a flexible workforce, more US workers than ever before are turning to freelance as an alternative to traditional employment. This trend will no doubt continue as business see the benefit of hiring talent only when and where they need them.
Read more in the full report on Upwork here.
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