McKinsey Authors: James Manyika | San FranciscoSusan Lund | WashingtonJacques Bughin | BrusselsKelsey Robinson | San FranciscoJan Mischke | ZurichDeepa Mahajan | San Francisco
Anyone who has ever felt trapped in a cubicle, annoyed by a micromanaging boss, or fed up with office politics has probably dreamed of leaving it all behind and going it alone.
The powerful opening line from the 148 page report (published in 2014) sets the tone of the report and shows one of the underlying reasons the freelancer market has grown double-digits since then.
In this article, I’ll summarize the most important points and statistics of the report. I’ll also give some quotes. You can see the original document here. The report is based on 8000 participants of a McKinsey survey.
Statistics
The report states the following statistics (highlights by me):
- 20 to 30 percent of the working-age population in the United States and the EU-15, or up to 162 million individuals, engage in independent work
- At least 15 percent of workers use online platforms such as Uber and Upwork (in 2015)
- 30 percent are “free agents,” who actively choose independent work and derive their primary income from it.
- Approximately 40 percent are “casual earners,” who use independent work for supplemental income and do so by choice
- “Reluctants,” who make their primary living from independent work but would prefer traditional jobs, make up 14 percent.
- The “financially strapped,” who do supplemental independent work out of necessity, account for 16 percent.