Editing Freelancer (section)

==Demographics==
{{Globalize|date=July 2024|2=the Western world}}
A 2018 McKinsey study found that up to 162 million people in [[Europe]] and the [[United States]] engage in some form of independent work. It represents 20–30 percent of the entire working age population.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Independent work: Choice, necessity, and the gig economy {{!}} McKinsey|url=https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/independent-work-choice-necessity-and-the-gig-economy|access-date=2020-10-23|website=www.mckinsey.com|archive-date=3 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403141340/https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/independent-work-choice-necessity-and-the-gig-economy|url-status=live}}</ref>

The total number of freelancers in USA is inexact, as of 2013, the most recent governmental report on independent contractors was published in 2005 by the [[U.S. Department of Labor]] [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]]. At that time, there were approximately 10.3 million United States workers (7.4% of the workforce) employed as independent contractors of all sorts.<ref name="indie2005">{{cite web |url=http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2005/jul/wk4/art05.htm |title=Independent contractors in 2005 |date=29 July 2005 |publisher=Bureau of Labor Statistics |access-date=21 December 2012 |archive-date=7 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507083309/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2005/jul/wk4/art05.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2011, [[Jeffrey Eisenach]], an economist at [[George Mason University]], estimated that number of freelancers had grown by one million.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} While in 2012, the [[Aberdeen Group, Inc.|Aberdeen Group]], a private research company, estimated that 26% (approx. 81 million) of the United States population was a part of the [[contingent workforce]], a category of casual labor that includes freelancing.<ref>{{cite web|last=Dwyer|first=C|title=Contingent Workforce Management: The Next-Generation Guidebook to Managing the Modern Contingent Workforce Umbrella.|url=http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/7709/RA-contingent-workforce-management.aspx%22|publisher=Aberdeen Group.|access-date=17 May 2013|archive-date=3 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703061319/http://www.aberdeen.com/removed|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2013, the [[Freelancers Union]] estimated that 1 in 3 workers in the United States was self-employed (approximately 42 million), with more than four million (43%) of those self-employed workers as members of the [[creative class]], a stratum of work specifically associated with freelance industries, such as [[Knowledge worker|knowledge workers]], technologists, professional writers, [[Artist|artists]], entertainers, and media workers.<ref>{{cite web|last=Florida|first=Richard|title=Geography of America's Freelance Economy|url=http://m.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/02/geography-americas-freelance-economy/4118/|work=FEB 25, 2013|publisher=The Atlantic|access-date=17 May 2013|archive-date=22 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022184047/http://m.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/02/geography-americas-freelance-economy/4118/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2016, the Freelancers Union estimated that 35% of the workforce in the United States was self-employed (approximately 55 million). This workforce earned an estimated $1 trillion from freelancing in 2016—a significant share of the U.S. economy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fu-prod-storage.s3.amazonaws.com/content/None/FreelancinginAmerica2016report.pdf|title=Freelancing in America: 2016|access-date=6 September 2017|archive-date=23 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023235138/https://fu-prod-storage.s3.amazonaws.com/content/None/FreelancinginAmerica2016report.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2017, a study by MBO Partners estimated the total number of self-employed Americans aged 21 and above to be 40.9 million.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.smallbizlabs.com/2017/06/cyclical-and-structural-forces-driving-growth-of-independent-work.html|title=Cyclical and Structural Forces Behind the Growing Independent Workforce|date=13 June 2017|work=Small Business Labs|access-date=16 October 2017|archive-date=17 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017042019/http://www.smallbizlabs.com/2017/06/cyclical-and-structural-forces-driving-growth-of-independent-work.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The total number of freelancers in UK is also inexact; however, figures from the [[Office for National Statistics]] show that the proportion of [[remote work]]ers rose from 9.2% in 2001 to 10.7% in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.consultancy.uk/news/1629/uk-consulting-market-grows-7-per-cent-to-6-billion|title=UK consulting market grows 7 per cent to 6 billion|date=10 March 2015|access-date=21 December 2015|archive-date=22 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222092742/http://www.consultancy.uk/news/1629/uk-consulting-market-grows-7-per-cent-to-6-billion|url-status=live}}</ref> It has been estimated, however, that there are approximately 1.7 million freelancers in the UK.<ref>{{cite news|last=Bell|first=Anna|title=Guide To Freelancers|url=http://www.icsuk.com/blog/ics-guide-to-freelancers/|access-date=20 January 2014|date=22 January 2014|archive-date=1 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201223504/http://www.icsuk.com/blog/ics-guide-to-freelancers/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Freelancing is a gendered form of work.<ref name="Freelance Industry Report 2012" /> The 2012 Freelance Industry Report estimated that more than 71% of freelancers are women between the ages of 30 and 50. Surveys of other specific areas of freelancing have similar trends. Demographic research on [[Amazon Mechanical Turk]] revealed that the majority of its North American workers are women.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ross|first=Joel|author2=Andrew Zaldivar|author3=Lilly Irani|author3-link=Lilly Irani|author4=Bill Tomlinson|title=Who are the Turkers? Worker Demographics in Amazon Mechanical Turk|journal=CHI EA|year=2010|pages=2863–2872|url=http://www.ics.uci.edu/~jwross/pubs/SocialCode-2009-01.pdf|access-date=17 May 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610104657/http://www.ics.uci.edu/~jwross/pubs/SocialCode-2009-01.pdf|archive-date=10 June 2013}}</ref> Catherine McKercher's research on journalism as a profession has showcased that while media organizations are still male-dominated, the reverse is true for freelance journalists and editors, whose ranks are mainly women.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mendes|first=Kaitlynn|author2=Kumarini Silva|author3=Catherine McKercher|author4=Yan Wub|date=24 August 2009|title=Women, Labor, Media, and the Economy Kaitlynn Mendes|journal=Feminist Media Studies|volume=9|issue=3|pages=369–378|doi=10.1080/14680770903068332|s2cid=216644322 }}</ref>