No one is entirely sure how many Americans are working gigs, in part because the definition of gig work grows muddier by the year. Labor economists are certain the practice is growing, but it remains incredibly hard to measure. Annual surveys conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are not designed to capture gig work as a category, and studies elsewhere use different parameters to define it. In an annual study commissioned by the “work marketplace” Upwork, 39 percent of the U.S. labor force was found to be doing some variety of freelance work last year — a share representing around 60 million people and $1.35 trillion in U.S. earnings, an increase of $50 billion over 2021.
