The UK will be celebrating Freelancers November 23 this year, recognizing their growing importance in the workforce.

In New York City

One of the few municipalities that tracks self-employment carefully, there were 807,750 self-employed workers in 2006, according to new numbers from the comptroller’s office. That’s about a fifth of the roughly 4 million nongovernment jobs that existed in the city before the current financial crisis. (These days, after all the layoffs, the proportion may be even higher.) And of the 773,000 jobs that Gotham added from 1981 to 2006, a stunning 491,000 were people working for themselves, making self-employment the biggest source of job creation in the city.

The same trend seems to be playing out across the country, though the numbers are slippery, thanks to varying definitions of self-employment, people who hold multiple jobs, off-the-books work, and other factors. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the national self-employment rate—the proportion of total employment made up of the self-employed—has hovered between 7 and 9 percent since the 1970s, but according to the Census Bureau, the number of “non-employer businesses” (that is, one-person shops) rose from 15.4 million in 1997 to 20.8 million in 2006. Further, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) reports, the country had 4.5 million businesses with fewer than four employees in 2005; the owners of these businesses have much in common with true solo workers.

CNN Money, May 4, 2009, reported that Freelance professionals now make up more than a quarter
of the U.S. working population, or 26%, according to a survey by human resources consulting firm Kelly Services, Inc, up from 19% in 2006.

In New York state,Freelancers Union is leading a movement to promote legislation that removes some of the barriers to Freelancing - especially high in NYC. In the UK, PCG is taking on a similar role, in its 10th year driving to have Freelancing recognized as a profession.

A number of burgeoning websites broker independent services, matching employers and projects to skilled professionals all over the world.

We're a huge segment and growing. We can help enliven our communities and power a thriving economy. This site is dedicated to that job. Let's get it done.

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