In April 2021, Marcin Zgola, founder and CEO of Chicago-based company Wage Development Inc., authored an article in Forbes suggesting that the gig economy's growth had the capacity to replace the traditional workforce.
Since Zgola's article, the "Great Resignation" has propelled the gig economy to triple in growth since 2021. The article suggested that an intersection of well-timed events is allowing the gig economy to supplant the traditional workforce.
"The gig economy, which gained popularity in 2008-09 when the financial crisis forced many individuals to resort to task-based labor, has become a much-desired career path," Zgola said. It saw 33% growth during 2020 and is growing far more rapidly than the U.S. economy itself.
Other leaders agree that the gig economy is expanding.
"The growth in earning power in the digital-service industries seems to have convinced many people to ditch their jobs and go exclusively gig," Dylan Ogline, CEO of Ogline International, told Forbes.
Ogline continued by breaking down the growth of the gig economy in stages.
"The first step was that people were forced to sit at home for months on end; this allowed them to see what their lives were like without their jobs and reconsider their options," he said. "The second step that followed is that older people, Gen Xers and even some Boomers, began dipping their feet into the gig economy. This is notable because the majority of gig workers had consisted on Millennials and Gen Zers. The third and final step has been the great resignation, people have decided in droves to stick to their gig work than return to their offices. It's been one thrilling and unexpected ride."
In April 2021, a Gallup report estimated that the amount of gig workers has grown to 36% of the total U.S. workforce, or approximately 59 million individuals. That same report approximates that 29% of all U.S. workers are doing gig work as their primary source of income.
Statista estimates put the current number of freelancers in the U.S. at 57.3 million people. By 2027, that number is expected to be 86.5 million. Statista further anticipates that by 2027, approximately one-half of America's workers will have participated in gig work in some fashion. As of now, 35% of Americans are engaged in the gig economy in some capacity.
Twelve percent of the U.S. workforce started gig working during the pandemic, an Upwork report said. The most frequently cited rationales for doing so were financial stability during the economy's downturn (75%) and necessity (54%).
There are approximately 1.1 billion on-demand gig workers around the world, with an additional 2 million appearing in America in 2020, Zgola said.
Many Americans prefer the work-life balance that comes with remote work and are still able to receive the same rewards working for themselves as those offered by traditional jobs, a Pew Research report said, cited by Forbes.