Contract work isn't a passing trend. It's here to stay. And it's how 20 percent of employees make a living today. In the next 10 years, some labor economists predict that contract workers will make up the majority of the U.S. workforce.
-20 percent of all American workers are contract workers hired to work on a specific project or for a fixed period of time.
-51 percent of contract workers don't receive benefits from their jobs.
-49 percent of contract workers have income that varies from month to month or seasonally.
-65 percent of contract workers are male and 62 percent are under 45.
-66 percent of part-time workers prefer that kind of schedule.
-56 percent of workers received a raise in the past year.
-84 percent of workers are not worried that they will lose their job in the next year.
-54 percent of workers think it would be difficult to relocate for a better job.
We look at how the gig economy has grown and what the decline of full-time work means for Americans.
*Source: NPR/Marist poll of 1,267 adults conducted Dec. 4-7, 2017. "Workers" includes 794 adults who are employed full or part time or are self-employed. The margin of error is +/- 3.5 percentage points.