The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (The Fed) recently released their 2017 Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households. This report "examines the economic well-being and financial lives of Americans and their families."
The study covers a range of topics related to personal and household finances, including a section on employment in the gig economy.
Key quote on The Fed's findings on the size of the gig economy:
"Overall in 2017, 31 percent of all adults engaged in gig work in the month before the survey, up slightly from 28 percent in 2016."
As with all studies, it's important to know how the gig economy is defined. The Fed uses a broad definition:
"…gig work covers three types of non-traditional activities: offline service activities, such as child care or house cleaning; offline sales, such as selling items at flea markets or thrift stores; and online services or sales, such as driving using a ride-sharing app or selling items online … Gig work is largely done in addition to a main job, so this is often distinct from those who work as contractors in their main job."
The Fed found the top reason for doing gig work is supplemental income.
Reinforcing this, gig work generally provides a modest share of family income. About three-fourths of gig workers report earning 10% or less of their household income from this work.
But that doesn't mean gig work isn't an important source of income for many.
As the report chart below shows, 45% of all gig workers report this income is as least somewhat important and about 15% (roughly 30 million people) report it being very much important.
It's also interesting that almost 1 in 5 (19%) are doing gig work as a hobby or just for fun. While most of these people will continue as hobbyists, our research shows many will become hobbypreneurs by turning their hobbies into businesses.
The results of this study reinforce what we know about the gig economy. It's big, it's growing,it's often used for supplemental income and for many, it's an important source of money.
We'll have more from the 2017 Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in future articles.
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