'These Freelancers Are Thriving'
New research from Upwork says skilled independent contractors are outpacing full-time employees in earning power, AI adoption and more.
For quite a few years, I’ve maintained this resource page on the Fight For Freelancers website that links to all kinds of research and studies about independent contractors. The findings go back a decade, to 2015, when the U.S. Government Accountability Office wrote: “More than 85 percent of independent contractors and the self-employed appeared content with their employment type.”
Anybody who scans through this information for even five minutes can see a few points that come up again and again throughout the years:
Most people who earn some or all of our income as independent contractors prefer to be our own bosses.
A significant number of independent contractors feel happier, healthier and more secure than full-time employees.
The desire to be self-employed keeps growing, with Gen Z in particular embracing an entrepreneurial mindset.
The newest data that reinforces these points comes from Upwork, which just released its inaugural Future Workforce Index.
Upwork’s new research is specific to skilled freelancers performing knowledge work. The report states that these people “apply highly specialized expertise toward solving organizational challenges. This expertise is often honed through education, training and experience.”
The findings only add to what we’ve all been saying all along, about the importance of protecting the independent-contractor business model:
Skilled freelancers earned a total of $1.5 trillion in 2024.
More than one in four (28%) knowledge workers in the United States freelance, translating to more than 20 million individuals.
Those who earn exclusively through freelance work report a median income of $85,000, surpassing their full-time employee counterparts at $80,000.
37% of skilled freelancers hold postgraduate degrees, compared to just 20% of full-time employees.
More than half (54%) of freelancers report advanced AI proficiency compared to 38% of full-time employees, while 29% have extensive experience building, training and fine-tuning machine learning models (versus 18% of full-time employees).
Among more than 400 publicly traded U.S. organizations, those in the top 25% of year-over-year revenue growth are more likely to embed freelancers (45%), managed services (50%), human+AI collaboration (41%) and agencies (39%) into their workforce strategies.
More than one-third (36%) of full-time employees are considering freelancing for better opportunities, while only 10% of freelancers want to return to traditional employment.
53% of skilled Gen Z workers are already freelancing.
84% of freelancers and 77% of full-time employees say freelancing’s best days are ahead.
82% of skilled freelancers report more work opportunities than a year ago, compared to just 63% of full-time employees.
What I find most interesting in Upwork’s new research, though, is the way the Future Workforce Index is structured. It appears that the researchers tried to drill down on why, specifically, skilled freelancers might be better positioned for the future than traditional full-time employees:
Obviously, there’s plenty of quibbling to be done about whether the skills in this Future Workforce Index paint a full picture about how success will actually be defined in the workforce of the future. For instance, entire debates could be staged about the meaning of “clear communication” and whether our future workforce will need the ability to hold real-life conversations instead of just texting on devices.
But that bottom section of the index, “Motivation and Future Outlook,” holds fast to what we’ve seen in all kinds of previous research about independent contractors. Upwork’s research on skilled freelancers shows that we often feel happier and healthier than full-time employees, as well as more optimistic about our futures.
Upwork’s research also adds to the body of research showing that Gen Z only seems to be accelerating the push toward self-employment:
“Gen Z workers, who will make up 30% of the US workforce by 2030, are overwhelmingly electing to work as freelancers—53% of skilled Gen Z knowledge workers are already working in this way.”
That is an eye-popping percentage about today’s youngest workers. I’m a card-carrying Gen X member of The Breakfast Club. When I chose to make the leap into being completely freelance back in 2003, people told me I was nuts. Quitting a full-time job to be my own boss? Madness. Utter lunacy.
The fact that more than half of skilled Gen Z freelancers are already making that leap should tell business leaders and lawmakers everything they need to know about what kinds of labor and employment policies we need to fully harness the talents of today’s youngest workers for the future.
More than ever, we need to fight for freelancers.
This Pathway Needs Protection
I’ve been writing a lot about the Modern Worker Empowerment Act, or H.R. 1319, which Congressman Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., recently introduced in Congress. This bill has one primary purpose: to protect everyone’s freedom to be independent contractors. It’s about protecting the freelancing pathway to the American Dream.
And make no mistake: Independent contractors need protection. Our business model has been under relentless attack in recent years, with those attacks led by people who are just as determined as the movement that ultimately brought down Roe v. Wade.
Kiley—first as a state lawmaker, and now in Congress—has been trying to stop that attack ever since the current wave of freelance busting began in California with Assembly Bill 5 a half dozen years ago. The first Trump administration tried to stop it from spreading beyond California, too, with then-Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia taking action that the Biden-Harris administration later undid.
Just last month, there was a hearing on Capitol Hill about this freelance busting seesaw that we’ve all been forced to endure for years—against the will of most independent contractors in this country. Congresswoman Mary Miller, R-Ill., explained it like this when questioning a witness:
“[S]urvey after survey shows that independent contractors prefer their current work arrangement to being an employee. The Biden administration’s attempts to restrict independent contracting were an affront to independent contractors who made their preference clear. What can Congress and the Trump administration do to support and protect the independent workforce?”
The answers to that question are simple:
Congress can pass the Modern Worker Empowerment Act to build real bulwarks against legislative attacks on independent contractors.
The Trump-Vance administration can help to protect us against future regulatory attacks by continuing down the path it signaled earlier this month with regard to U.S. Labor Department rule-making.
What all the rest of us can do is hold their feet to the fire until they get it done.
It takes less than five minutes to do your part. Call or email your member of Congress (find him or her here) and say you want their name added as a co-sponsor on H.R. 1319, the Modern Worker Empowerment Act.
You can share Upwork’s new study with them as a reference point. Explain that 84% of freelancers and 77% of full-time employees say freelancing’s best days are ahead.
Tell them that we want this pathway to the American Dream strongly protected, for now and for all the generations to come.