The American workforce has experienced many changes over the past three decades, but the team at Ooma focused specifically on self-employment, tracking how much of the workforce was self-employed each year. Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Ooma’s analysis shows the evolution of the “gig economy.”
In 1994, we see that self-employment represented 12.2% of the workforce. That’s about 14.93 million Americans. This was a peak in self-employment numbers, encompassing freelancers, independent contractors, salespeople, trade workers, and more. The numbers declined all the way through the year 2018, representing only 9.8% of the workforce. This shows that the 2010s were a corporate consolidation and post-recession recovery period.
The team separated the data between incorporated and unincorporated self-employed people to reveal new insights. Unincorporated workers are typically freelancers and gig workers. They have fewer barriers to starting their self-employment pursuits but less stability, as reflected in the dramatic decline in their numbers, down to 5.9% of employees in 2023. Incorporated self-employed people are typically entrepreneurs and small business owners who are registered as formal business entities. They saw a less severe dip in their employment numbers.
It’s clear that the dot-com boom had a pronounced effect on the state of self-employment. With the rise of app-based businesses like Uber, DoorDash, and similar platforms, the demand for gig workers to make deliveries for these app customers increased dramatically. It was great supplemental work and allowed ambitious delivery drivers to set their own full-time schedule. Social media still offers more opportunities for self-employed individuals to earn a living through content creation, marketing, or influencing.
The team’s data gives a comprehensive picture of the self-employment landscape, showing that it has a vital role as an opportunity creator and a response to economic crisis.
