Quick answer
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 11.9 million independent contractors, 7.4% of total employment, on their sole or main job in July 2023, its most recent contingent worker survey.
- The Federal Reserve's broader measure is larger: 20% of adults did some gig activity in the month before its 2024 survey, but only 21% of them called it their main job.
- Most independent contractors chose it: 80.3% preferred their arrangement to a traditional job, and they earned a median $949 a week full-time against $1,132 for traditional workers.
Gig economy statistics depend heavily on the definition, and the headline figure ranges from under 1% to one in five adults. The most reliable federal count is the BLS Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements survey: in July 2023, 11.9 million people, or 7.4% of total employment, worked as independent contractors on their sole or main job. The Federal Reserve's Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking uses a much wider net that includes selling items and short tasks, and finds 20% of adults did gig activity in the prior month. Below are the numbers from each source, what they measure, and what they mean for an employer deciding between hiring staff and engaging contractors.
How many Americans do gig work
No agency publishes one official "gig worker" count. Three different yardsticks give three different answers, and they are not interchangeable.
- Main-job contracting (BLS, July 2023). 11.9 million independent contractors, 7.4% of total employment, on their sole or main job. The BLS release was published on November 8, 2024, and comes from a supplement to the Current Population Survey of about 60,000 households.
- Any gig activity (Federal Reserve, 2024). 20% of adults performed gig activities in the prior month. The Fed's 2024 report counts selling items, short-term tasks and app-based work.
- Online platform work (Pew, 2021). 16% of Americans had ever earned money from an online gig platform, 9% had done so in the past 12 months, and 4% were doing it at the time of the August 2021 survey of 10,348 adults.
- Self-employed (BLS, October 2026). The household survey counted 9,518,000 unincorporated and 6,961,000 incorporated self-employed workers in October 2026, not seasonally adjusted, in Table A-9 of the Employment Situation. Self-employment is a different concept from gig work and is not a gig worker count.
A freshness note on these gig economy statistics: the Fed's May 2026 report on 2025 households has no gig-work section on its Employment and Job Quality page, so the latest Fed gig figures are for 2024. BLS has run its contingent worker supplement seven times since February 1995, most recently in July 2023. A 2024 BLS blog post said the next one was scheduled for May 2025, but as of November 13, 2026 the release page still shows July 2023 data, and BLS says its app-based work estimates from the 2023 supplement have a release date "to be determined."
What this means for employers. When someone quotes a "gig economy" statistic, ask which definition it uses. A 20% figure describes people who sold items or did a task last month. It does not describe the pool of people available to do your work as contractors, which is closer to the BLS share.
Independent contractors and other alternative arrangements
BLS splits non-traditional work into four alternative arrangements. For each, the figures below are for the sole or main job in July 2023, from the BLS release.
- Independent contractors: 11.9 million, or 7.4% of total employment, up from 6.9% in May 2017.
- On-call workers: 2.8 million, or 1.7%, unchanged from May 2017.
- Temporary help agency workers: 945,000, or 0.6%, down from 0.9% in May 2017.
- Workers provided by contract firms: 862,000, or 0.5%, about the same as in 2017.
BLS also tracks a separate measure, contingent work, meaning jobs people do not expect to last or that are temporary. 4.3% of workers, or 6.9 million people, held contingent jobs on their sole or main job in July 2023, up from 3.8% in May 2017. Contingent and independent contractor are overlapping but different groups: most independent contractors are not contingent, because they expect the work to continue.
Of the 8.4 million multiple jobholders in July 2023, 1.9 million (22.8%) were independent contractors on their second job, 348,000 (4.2%) were on-call, 118,000 (1.4%) were temp agency workers and 26,000 (0.3%) were provided by contract firms. Another 1.1 million, or 12.8% of multiple jobholders, had a contingent second job.
What this means for employers. The independent contractor share rose from 6.9% to 7.4% between 2017 and 2023 while temp agency work shrank. If you use contractors for ongoing work on a set schedule, that is exactly where classification risk sits. See our guide to 1099 vs W-2 workers before you rely on the label.
Who does gig work
Age is the sharpest dividing line. BLS contractors skew older, while contingent jobs and the casual gig work the Fed and Pew measure skew young.
Other BLS breakdowns for July 2023 are in the table below.
| Group | Contingent workers | Independent contractors |
|---|---|---|
| Ages 16 to 24 | 12.9% | 2.2% |
| Ages 25 to 54 | 3.1% | 6.9% |
| Ages 55 and over | 2.6% | 11.5% |
| Men | 4.3% | 8.7% |
| Women | 4.2% | 5.8% |
| White | 4.1% | 7.9% |
| Black | 3.9% | 5.4% |
| Asian | 5.9% | 5.4% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 6.0% | 7.4% |
Source: BLS, July 2023. Shares of total employment in each group.
The age skew is sharper as a share of the group: 36% of independent contractors were age 55 or older in July 2023. Most work full time (70.7%), and 84.6% were self-employed on that job rather than paid as wage and salary workers. Temporary help agency work was most common among Black (1.0%) and Hispanic or Latino (1.1%) workers.
Independent contracting clusters in a handful of fields. The table shows the share of workers in each group who were independent contractors on their sole or main job in July 2023.
| Occupation or industry | Type | Independent contractor share |
|---|---|---|
| Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media | Occupation | 28.1% |
| Real estate and rental and leasing | Industry | 24.2% |
| Personal care and service | Occupation | 19.7% |
| Construction | Industry | 18.5% |
| Construction and extraction | Occupation | 15.1% |
| Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance | Occupation | 13.2% |
| All workers | Total | 7.4% |
Source: BLS, July 2023.
Pew's 2021 online platform data show a different mix. In the Fed's 2024 survey, gig activity was also above average among Hispanic adults (24%) and students (30%). In Pew's 2021 survey, 30% of 18- to 29-year-olds and 18% of 30- to 49-year-olds had ever earned money on a gig platform. By race and ethnicity, 30% of Hispanic adults had, against 20% of Black, 19% of Asian and 12% of White adults. Pew reports the Asian sample covers English speakers only.
What this means for employers. The contractors BLS counts are older, mostly full-time and concentrated in creative, real estate, personal care and construction work. They are a different population from the younger app-based workers in the headlines.
Main job or side income
Gig work is mostly supplemental. The Federal Reserve's 2024 report finds that only 21% of adults who did gig activities said it was their main job, and 51% had a non-gig main job. Time spent was small: 96% usually spent under 35 hours a week on gig activities and 70% under 5 hours.
The Fed breaks the 20% down by activity: selling or renting items 14% (including 13% who sold items and 2% who offered short-term rentals), short-term tasks 9%, and tasks arranged through an app or website 4%.
Multiple jobholding gives a monthly read on side work. In October 2026, 8,805,000 people held more than one job, 5.4% of the employed, seasonally adjusted, according to the BLS Employment Situation. That counts second jobs of every kind, not only gig work.
Pew found a larger main-job share among platform workers. 31% of current or recent gig platform workers said it had been their main job over the past 12 months, 3% of all adults. Hours were light for most: the majority spent under 10 hours in a typical week or did not work most weeks, while 29% worked 10 to 30 hours and 8% more than 30.
The main-job shares differ (21% versus 31%) because the Fed counts all gig activity, including selling goods, while Pew counts only online platform work, a narrower group.
How much it matters financially: in Pew's survey, 23% of current or recent gig platform workers called the income essential for meeting basic needs, 35% important, and 39% nice to have but not needed. In the Fed's survey, 31% of gig workers said that without gig income they would have trouble making ends meet. 65% of them said they were doing okay or living comfortably, against 75% of other adults.
What this means for employers. Most people who do gig work have another job. That is your competition for hours: a staff member's side work shapes their availability, and it is a reason schedule flexibility keeps showing up in what workers ask for. Ask about availability early and plan schedules around it.
Platform and app-based work
Platform work is the best-known slice of the gig economy and the smallest. The Fed found 4% of adults did gig tasks arranged through an app or website, such as ride-sharing or delivery, in the month before its 2024 survey. Pew's 2021 survey found 4% were doing online gig platform work at that moment and 9% over the past year, a different period but a similar order of magnitude. The last official BLS count is older: 1.6 million electronically mediated workers, 1.0% of total employment, in May 2017, according to the Monthly Labor Review.
Pew's definition covered ride-hailing, grocery and restaurant delivery, household tasks such as cleaning or furniture assembly, and package delivery by app.
Workers' reasons are mixed. The Fed's 2024 report lists the share of gig workers who agree with each statement:
Among platform gig workers specifically, 78% agree they get flexible hours and 61% wish pay were more consistent. 52% cite work-life balance and 42% wish they had benefits such as health insurance.
Pew's experience ratings for current or recent platform workers: 72% said job assignments were at least somewhat fair, 64% said pay was, and 46% said benefits were unfair.
What this means for employers. Flexibility is what gig workers say they value most, and consistent pay is what they say they miss. Predictable, published schedules and reliable pay dates are an advantage an employer has over app work. See how to process payroll consistently.
Do workers prefer these arrangements
Preferences differ sharply by arrangement. The table shows the shares from the BLS July 2023 survey.
| Arrangement | Prefer their arrangement | Prefer a traditional or permanent job |
|---|---|---|
| Independent contractors | 80.3% | 8.3% |
| Temporary help agency workers | 48.2% | 27.7% |
| On-call workers | 40.6% | 41.6% |
| Contingent workers | 40.8% | 44.8% |
Source: BLS, July 2023. For contingent workers, the second column is the share who would prefer a permanent job.
Independent contractors are the most satisfied group. On-call and contingent workers are split, with slightly more preferring a traditional or permanent job.
What this means for employers. If you rely on on-call or temporary labor for core shifts, about two in five of those workers would rather have a traditional job. That is a recruiting pool for your open hourly roles. Hours thresholds also matter: see how many hours is part time.
Earnings and benefits
BLS reports median usual weekly earnings for full-time workers on their sole or main job, July 2023, from the BLS contingent worker release:
Contingent workers earned $838 a week against $1,137 for noncontingent workers, which BLS states is 74%. Independent contractors earned $949, which is 84% of the $1,132 for traditional arrangements (Workzenly calculation from BLS data). The BLS earnings figure is before business expenses and self-employment taxes, which contractors pay themselves, so it should not be read as take-home pay. Our guide to employer payroll taxes shows the costs employers carry for employees that contractors cover on their own, including FICA.
Benefits show a larger gap than pay. In July 2023, 19.9% of contingent workers had employer-provided health insurance, against 51.2% of noncontingent workers. Among arrangements: traditional 54.4%, contract firm 40.2%, on-call 38.1%, and temporary help agency 16.6%. Coverage from any source was 74.3% for contingent workers and 84.3% for noncontingent, with independent contractors at 74.2% and temporary help agency workers at 60.8%.
What this means for employers. The cost gap between a contractor and an employee is mostly payroll taxes, unemployment insurance and benefits, not the hourly rate. Know what a worker actually costs under each arrangement before you decide, including FUTA and SUTA.
What this means for employers
Read together, the gig economy statistics above point to four practical conclusions:
- The pool is smaller than headlines suggest. Contractors on their main job are 7.4% of employment; the 20% figure is any gig activity, mostly a few hours a week.
- Most contractors chose it. 80.3% prefer it, against 40.6% of on-call workers.
- Classification is your risk, not the worker's. Calling someone a contractor does not make them one. The tests, and the tax consequences, are in the 1099 vs W-2 guide. Overtime rules for employees are in exempt vs non-exempt.
- Where workers are employees, keep clean records. Hours, overtime and pay need to be tracked and paid accurately.
Workzenly pays employees, not contractors. It tracks hours and runs payroll for W-2 staff, with the time clock, scheduling and PTO alongside.
About this data
This page uses six sources. The BLS Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements release is based on a July 2023 Current Population Survey supplement and is run on an irregular schedule. The Federal Reserve's Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households report is annual, published each May. Pew Research Center's State of Gig Work is a one-time survey from August 2021 with 10,348 adults. The 2017 platform count comes from a 2018 BLS Monthly Labor Review article, and the survey schedule from a 2024 BLS blog post. The BLS Employment Situation is monthly; the October 2026 figures were released November 6, 2026, and the October 2025 comparison is not available because of the federal government shutdown. We review the page when these sources publish new releases. Journalists and bloggers are welcome to cite this page with a link back to it, and we recommend citing the original source for each figure.
More workforce statistics: Part-time employment statistics · Small business statistics · Remote work statistics · Employee benefits statistics.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements, July 2023," news release USDL-24-2267, November 8, 2024. bls.gov/news.release/conemp.nr0.htm
- Federal Reserve Board, "Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024, Employment and Gig Work," May 2025 (page last updated October 28, 2025). federalreserve.gov
- Federal Reserve Board, "Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025, Employment and Job Quality," May 2026 (reviewed for gig-work content; none found). federalreserve.gov
- Pew Research Center, "The State of Gig Work in 2021," December 8, 2021 (survey August 23 to 29, 2021). pewresearch.org
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Electronically mediated work: new questions in the Contingent Worker Supplement," Monthly Labor Review, September 2018 (May 2017 data). bls.gov/opub/mlr
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Contingent jobs and alternative work arrangements: what you need to know," BLS blog, 2024. bls.gov/blog
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment Situation, Table A-9," October 2026 data, released November 6, 2026. bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t09.htm
Frequently asked questions
How many gig workers are there in the US?
There is no single count, because sources define gig work differently. BLS found 11.9 million independent contractors on their sole or main job in July 2023, 7.4% of total employment. The Federal Reserve found 20% of adults did some gig activity in the prior month in its 2024 survey, mostly part-time and often selling items.
What percent of workers are independent contractors?
BLS reported that independent contractors were 7.4% of total employment in July 2023, or 11.9 million people on their sole or main job, up from 6.9% in May 2017. That is a share of workers whose main job is contracting, so it is smaller than the Federal Reserve's 20% of adults who did any gig activity.
How many people use gig work as their main job?
Fewer than most people assume. In the Federal Reserve's 2024 survey, 21% of adults who did gig activities said it was their main job. Pew Research Center found in 2021 that 31% of current or recent online gig platform workers said platform work was their main job over the past 12 months, which was 3% of all adults.
Do independent contractors earn less than employees?
On the BLS measure, yes, modestly. Full-time independent contractors had median usual weekly earnings of $949 in July 2023, against $1,132 for workers in traditional arrangements. Contingent workers earned $838 a week. These are medians for full-time workers on their sole or main job and do not subtract self-employment costs.
Do gig workers prefer their arrangement?
Independent contractors mostly do. BLS found 80.3% of independent contractors in July 2023 preferred their arrangement and 8.3% would prefer a traditional job. Temporary help agency workers were less settled, with 48.2% preferring their arrangement and 27.7% preferring a traditional one.
Does Workzenly pay gig workers or contractors?
No. Workzenly tracks hours and runs payroll for W-2 employees, not contractors. If you are deciding whether a worker should be on payroll at all, the 1099 versus W-2 guide explains the classification tests and the payroll taxes that come with employee status.