November 01, 2023
The variety of impartial staff is on the rise, up 11.6% to a document 72.1 million American this yr from 64.6 million final yr, in accordance with the MBO Companions’ State of Independence in America 2023 report.
One of many faster-growing segments of impartial staff was these incomes $100,000 or extra per yr, which rose 53% between 2021 and 2023 to a complete of 4.6 million. The rise within the variety of extremely paid independents is pushed by better demand for such staff and the need for better work/life flexibility among the many staff themselves, in accordance with the report.
MBO Companions defines impartial staff as consultants, freelancers, contractors, solopreneurs, microbusiness homeowners, non permanent (staff employed via staffing corporations) and on-call staff.
Amongst impartial staff of all earnings ranges, development got here from these working independently full time in addition to these doing so on an occasional foundation.
The variety of full-time independents — these working independently for 15 or extra hours per week — rose by 20% yr over yr in 2022 to 21.6 million, in accordance with MBO Companions; As well as, the variety of occasional independents — those that earn cash periodically as an impartial no less than month-to-month — rose 14.7% to 36.6 million.
Nonetheless, the variety of part-time independents — working fewer than 15 hours per week — fell to 9.5 million this yr from 11.1 million final yr.
Along with numbers, MBO Companions’ report examined different features of impartial work. One query about AI discovered that solely 8% of independents see AI as a risk.
The examine included survey responses from 6,488 US residents, together with 1,132 impartial staff.
