Was the Gig Economy Overblown?

The emergence of the gig economy in the past decade has scarcely changed the U.S. labor market, according to newly released government data.

Anyone who has ridden in an Uber, noticed a contractor working alongside them or taken a temp job to make ends meet might say the nature of work is shifting. But new Labor Department data show the share of workers who are independent contractors, in short-term jobs or otherwise in “alternative employment arrangements” is little changed since 2005.

The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Thursday its survey of contingent and alternative workers for the first time in 13 years. It showed the fraction of workers employed as independent contractors was 6.9% in May 2017, down from 7.4% in February 2005, the last time the survey was taken. The broadest measure of the share of workers who are contingent—meaning they don’t expect their jobs to last more than an additional year—was 3.8% last year, down from 4.1% in 2005.