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Independent contractors made up 6.9 percent of employment in May 2017 : The Economics Daily: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Independent contractors made up 6.9 percent of employment in May 2017
JUNE 21, 2018
Independent contractors remained the largest of four alternative arrangements, making up 6.9 percent of total employment in May 2017. The second-largest
category was on-call workers, at 1.7 percent. Temporary help agency workers accounted for 0.9 percent of total employment, and workers provided by contract
firms made up 0.6 percent of total employment.
CHART IMAGE
CHART DATA
Chart Image
Workers in alternative arrangements as a percent of total employed
Feb 1995
Feb 1997
Feb 1999
Feb 2001
Feb 2005
May 20…
Independent contractors
On-call workers
Temporary help agency workers
Workers provided by contract firms
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
Click legend items to change data display. Hover over chart to view data.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Chart Data
Workers in alternative arrangements as a percent of total employed
Type of worker
Feb 1995
Independent contractors
Feb 1997
Feb 1999
Feb 2001
Feb 2005
May 2017
6.7%
6.7%
6.3%
6.4%
7.4%
6.9%
On-call workers
1.7
1.6
1.5
1.6
1.8
1.7
Temporary help agency workers
1.0
1.0
0.9
0.9
0.9
0.9
Workers provided by contract firms
0.5
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.6
0.6
The proportion of the employed who were independent contractors was lower in May 2017, compared with February 2005 (the last time the survey was conducted).
The proportions employed in the other three alternative arrangements showed little or no change from 2005.
These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see "Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements — May 2017." The measures
of alternative employment arrangements apply only to a person's sole or main job. For more information, see the answers to frequently asked questions.
RELATED ARTICLES
RELATED SUBJECTS
3.8 percent of workers were contingent in May 2017
Employment
SUGGESTED CITATION
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics
Daily, Independent contractors made up 6.9 percent of employment in
May 2017 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/independent-
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