It Turns Out the ‘Gig Economy’  Has Shrunk Since 2005

The share of Americans who may be classified as part of the “gig economy” has shrunk since 2005, according to a government report that also showed such jobs are increasingly concentrated among older workers in an aging labor force.

The Labor Department on Thursday said 10.1 percent of Americans in May 2017 were on alternative work arrangements -- which includes independent contractors, on-call workers and people working for third-party contractors -- down from the 10.7 percent in the last report in 2005. That decline resulted mainly from a drop in the share of people identifying as independent contractors, which fell to 6.9 percent from 7.4 percent in 2005.