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"34% of North American workers now consider themselves freelancers" That is a very surprising claim. I'd have appreciated if they told us where they got the i

by rfrey 12y ago

"34% of North American workers now consider themselves freelancers" That is a very surprising claim. I'd have appreciated if they told us where they got the information.

pauljarvis 12y ago
That's a very good point, I'll update with sources (as they are via studies done in the last few years), that was my bad for not including.
- tomek_zemla 12y ago
  Actually the number does not surprise me, but the source would be great. My informal observations show that great number of knowledge workers freelance on the side of their day jobs, so I suspect that the number of full-time freelancers and part-time freelancers is different. Also, the studies might indicated breakdown by profession and how it changed over time... Programmers, graphic designers, writers, etc.
  - pauljarvis 12y ago
    I updated with sources - here are the direct links to the studys: http://fu-web-storage-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/content/filer_public/c2/06/c2065a8a-7f00-46db-915a-2122965df7d9/fu_freelancinginamericareport_v3-rgb.pdf http://fu-web-storage-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/content/filer_pu... http://www.ipse.co.uk/sites/default/files//media/documents/RESOURCES/Future_Working_Summary.pdf http://www.ipse.co.uk/sites/default/files//media/documents/R...
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
bhayden 12y ago
There was an article a week or so back talking about the most common jobs by state. Overwhelmingly it was truck driving, where I would guess it is common to technically be "freelance". I would imagine blue collar stuff like that is the majority of the 34%.
mreiland 12y ago
that caught me be surprise too, I came in here specifically to see if I could find out where that number came from.
- acveilleux 12y ago
  Here's the definition the stated source used: “individuals who have engaged in supplemental, temporary, or project- or contract-based work in the past 12 months.” That's very vague and broad. I mean even restricting yourself to "real/full-time" self-employed, you'll find out that many truck drivers, most mechanics, most hair dressers, they're all 1099s...
  - Frondo 12y ago
    And many of those truck drivers are misclassified. http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Justice/2014/Big-Rig-Overhaul-Misclassification-Port-Truck-Drivers-Labor-Law-Enforcement.pdf?nocdn=1 http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Justice/2014/Big-Rig-Overhaul-Mis...
mreiland 12y ago
that caught me be surprise too, I came in here specifically to see if I could find out where that number came from.
otakucode 12y ago
I've been expecting freelancing to become the dominant means of finding work for a long time now. It just seems inevitable. Think about it. What does an employer offer you? Security? Nope. Pension? Nope. Predictable income? Nope. Companies have abandoned absolutely every single thing they ever offered to employees. They stagger along now just because people go to them out of habit. Companies first came around because someone has to solve the distribution problem. That was such a valuable problem to solve that it shaped commerce and society for well over 100 years. It still shapes society. And it shouldn't. The Internet solves the distribution problem. It makes it so any 12 year old with a net connection can run circles around any mega-corporation when it comes to distributing product from point A to point B. The only place the 12 year old CAN'T beat the corporation is the place that large corporations never really managed to penetrate much in the first place - goods and service which are actually intrinsically bound to geography. You need your hair stylist to be physically near you. You need the plumber to be near you. And those people do not work for a mega-multinational. And I expect when the change happens, it will only take a matter of weeks or months. There will be a sudden realization on all sides. Companies will realize they can't get ridiculously profitable workers for dirt cheap any more. Workers will realize their company has been playing them like a game - and realize that if they play the company at the same game instead of listening to myths their parents told them - they will kick ass any time. Zero overhead, zero debt and obligations going up against a large organization who relies COMPLETELY on the ability to hire workers who will accept pay less than 5% of the value they actually earn for the company? It's not even a competition.
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  Regular employment still has one thing going for it - the unbounded term. Contract employees have to renegotiate every so often. Employment - no issue. Also your insurance keeps renewing, which is convenient.
  - r00fus 12y ago
    Well, in the wrong place (i.e., downsizing org or stacked ranking), you do end up "renegotiating" just that its' mostly on employers terms, and quite an unbalanced contract.

by rfrey 12y ago

"34% of North American workers now consider themselves freelancers" That is a very surprising claim. I'd have appreciated if they told us where they got the information.

pauljarvis 12y ago

That's a very good point, I'll update with sources (as they are via studies done in the last few years), that was my bad for not including.

tomek_zemla 12y ago
Actually the number does not surprise me, but the source would be great. My informal observations show that great number of knowledge workers freelance on the side of their day jobs, so I suspect that the number of full-time freelancers and part-time freelancers is different. Also, the studies might indicated breakdown by profession and how it changed over time... Programmers, graphic designers, writers, etc.
- pauljarvis 12y ago
  I updated with sources - here are the direct links to the studys: http://fu-web-storage-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/content/filer_public/c2/06/c2065a8a-7f00-46db-915a-2122965df7d9/fu_freelancinginamericareport_v3-rgb.pdf http://fu-web-storage-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/content/filer_pu... http://www.ipse.co.uk/sites/default/files//media/documents/RESOURCES/Future_Working_Summary.pdf http://www.ipse.co.uk/sites/default/files//media/documents/R...

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

bhayden 12y ago

There was an article a week or so back talking about the most common jobs by state. Overwhelmingly it was truck driving, where I would guess it is common to technically be "freelance". I would imagine blue collar stuff like that is the majority of the 34%.

mreiland 12y ago

that caught me be surprise too, I came in here specifically to see if I could find out where that number came from.

acveilleux 12y ago
Here's the definition the stated source used: “individuals who have engaged in supplemental, temporary, or project- or contract-based work in the past 12 months.” That's very vague and broad. I mean even restricting yourself to "real/full-time" self-employed, you'll find out that many truck drivers, most mechanics, most hair dressers, they're all 1099s...
- Frondo 12y ago
  And many of those truck drivers are misclassified. http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Justice/2014/Big-Rig-Overhaul-Misclassification-Port-Truck-Drivers-Labor-Law-Enforcement.pdf?nocdn=1 http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Justice/2014/Big-Rig-Overhaul-Mis...

mreiland 12y ago

that caught me be surprise too, I came in here specifically to see if I could find out where that number came from.

otakucode 12y ago

I've been expecting freelancing to become the dominant means of finding work for a long time now. It just seems inevitable. Think about it. What does an employer offer you? Security? Nope. Pension? Nope. Predictable income? Nope. Companies have abandoned absolutely every single thing they ever offered to employees. They stagger along now just because people go to them out of habit. Companies first came around because someone has to solve the distribution problem. That was such a valuable problem to solve that it shaped commerce and society for well over 100 years. It still shapes society. And it shouldn't. The Internet solves the distribution problem. It makes it so any 12 year old with a net connection can run circles around any mega-corporation when it comes to distributing product from point A to point B. The only place the 12 year old CAN'T beat the corporation is the place that large corporations never really managed to penetrate much in the first place - goods and service which are actually intrinsically bound to geography. You need your hair stylist to be physically near you. You need the plumber to be near you. And those people do not work for a mega-multinational. And I expect when the change happens, it will only take a matter of weeks or months. There will be a sudden realization on all sides. Companies will realize they can't get ridiculously profitable workers for dirt cheap any more. Workers will realize their company has been playing them like a game - and realize that if they play the company at the same game instead of listening to myths their parents told them - they will kick ass any time. Zero overhead, zero debt and obligations going up against a large organization who relies COMPLETELY on the ability to hire workers who will accept pay less than 5% of the value they actually earn for the company? It's not even a competition.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago
Regular employment still has one thing going for it - the unbounded term. Contract employees have to renegotiate every so often. Employment - no issue. Also your insurance keeps renewing, which is convenient.
- r00fus 12y ago
  Well, in the wrong place (i.e., downsizing org or stacked ranking), you do end up "renegotiating" just that its' mostly on employers terms, and quite an unbalanced contract.