By Ryan Boyle

As the year comes to a busy conclusion, we’re still catching up with news that didn’t make the front page.  In the first week of November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published a data release that’s even less frequent than the four year presidential election cycle.  The Survey of Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements sheds light into workers who don’t hold conventional jobs with predictable schedules.

Collected as a supplement to the July 2023 Current Population Survey (the questionnaire best known for generating the unemployment rate), the survey asked specific questions of respondents who said their jobs were temporary or not expected to last.  The supplement has irregular timing; it was last taken in 2017, and before that, 2005.  Nonetheless, the output offers some glimpses into how the labor market evolved after the pandemic.

Independent contractors (including freelance workers) are the largest of the alternative cohorts, representing 12 million workers or over 7% of total employment.  Participants in this category are often older, as it is a path available to those with more experience.  It can also serve as a bridge into retirement.  Among independent contractors, 36% are aged 55 or older, whereas only 22% of workers in conventional jobs were of that age.

On-call workers are those who report to work only when needed, though they can be scheduled well into the future.  These 2.8 million workers (1.7% of employment) work predominantly in the service, construction and healthcare sectors.  Lastly, workers provided by contract firms and temporary help agencies (totaling 1.8 million) round out the survey population, offering their services to employers on an interim basis. 

Contingent workers can be found in nearly every line of work.  Outside of independent contractors, the population skews younger: 12.9% of workers age 16 to 24 had contingent jobs, compared with 3.1% for those ages 25-54.  New hires may lack the skills and experience for steady employment, or are content with alterative arrangements while they continue their studies.

Side jobs can also be taken on a contingent basis.  Over eight million people (about 5% the workforce) hold multiple jobs.  Of these, 13% describe their second job as contingent.

Relative to prior surveys, these results show a tighter labor market that gives employees more choice to work on their preferred terms.  In 2017, 55% of respondents said they would have preferred a permanent job, a share that fell notably to 45% in 2023.  Contract and temporary workers represented 1.1% of employment in 2023, down from 1.5% in 2017.  A decline in temporary jobs used to signal the onset of a recession, but this cycle was different.  Independent contracting is gaining popularity, representing 7.4% of employment in 2023, up from 6.9% in 2017.  Workers who take contingent roles are more frequently in those jobs by choice, while more people who want permanent jobs are able to find them.

While helpful to understand the labor market, the survey leaves an important gap.  This round of the supplement included questions about digital platform-based work like rideshare driving, which does not fit more established categories of employment.  These results are still under review.  The press release promises more estimates will be published in the future. 

Beyond helpful labor market illustrations, the survey shows the stretched resources of government statistical agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Drawing insights from data published infrequently is a challenge; more regularity will improve our understanding the labor market.  Employers can use these insights to design roles that meet the needs of the potential labor force and improve participation.  Efforts to reduce the federal budget would be better focused elsewhere.

Resilient labor markets have defined this cycle and set our expectations of another year of growth ahead.  Varied terms of employment help to keep as many workers as engaged as possible.