Upwork report

“Freelance Forward 2022”

Overview

Labor market is shaken by recent great resignations, massive layoffs, and having to return back to office. What does all this mean for freelancers and should we care? Let's try to figure out based on numbers from Upwork “Freelance Forward 2022” report.

“Freelance Forward 2022” Overview

  • Freelancers contributed $1.35 trillion to the U.S. economy in annual earnings in 2022, up $50 billion from 2021.

  • The share of professionals freelancing increased to 60 million Americans, up three percentage points from 2021 to 39%.

  • Nearly three-quarters of freelancers (73%) say that perceptions of freelancing as a career are becoming more positive, up from 68% in 2021.

  • Gen Z and Millennials are the most likely to explore freelancing: In 2022, 43% of all Gen Z professionals and 46% of all Millennial professionals performed freelance work.

  • Over half of freelancers provide knowledge services: 51% of all freelancers, or nearly 31 million professionals, provided knowledge services such as computer programming, marketing, IT, and business consulting in 2022.

  • 17% of U.S. workers are now diversified, meaning they seek multiple sources of income from a mix of traditional employment and freelance work, up three percentage points from 2021.

  • Freelancing continues to grow among the most educated: 26% of all U.S. freelancers hold a postgraduate degree, up from 20% in 2021.

Slide the pictures for more numbers and graphs from “Freelance Forward 2022”

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