Overview
The landscape of work has shifted over the past 10 years with the rapid growth of online labor platforms like Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Upwork, and many others. To investigate these gig work arrangements, technology, and workers’ experiences, the Digital Work Group conducted a multi-year study of freelance knowledge workers. We interviewed and surveyed 100+ freelancers from 2019 to 2023 to develop a better understanding of their practices, strategies and challenges.
Longitudinal Study Design
To investigate the rise of online freelancing, including the intersection of changes in work, technology and workers’ experiences, we conducted a 4-year longitudinal panel study. The longitudinal research design enabled us to capture and study changes (in workers, platforms, and arrangements) over time. Our team conducted hundreds of interviews and surveys with online freelancers, focusing on Upwork freelancers based in the United States (the image below shows the location of the participants in our study).
Demographics
The workers in our sample were selected across three broad categories of occupations (administrative, creative, and technology) to encompass a range of perspectives. Our study sample included 108 online freelancers, ranging in age, years of experience, gender, and race/ethnicity (the participant’s demographic breakdown in shown in the figure below).
Study Participation
In total, we conducted 247 interviews and 267 surveys across the four years. Given the longitudinal nature of the study (occurring from November 2019 to March 2023), freelancer participation varied each year — See the table below for details on the study participation.
Findings
Our data and analyses have led to several findings of worker arrangements, motivations, strategies and challenges. I discuss our findings in a blog post including: 1) the duality of freelancing flexibility, 2) platform metrics and their influence on workers’ deconstructed identities, and 3) gender and racial disparities in online freelancing.
Post link: Freelancing and Work Futures: A Multi-year Study of the Gig Economy.
Links to learn more
A New Era of Freelancer Flexibility: Redefining the Rules of Remote Work. This blog post by Clea O’Neil discusses what workplace flexibility is, how it is changing, and why freelancers are increasingly returning to full-time traditional employment.
More than Money: Redefining Success in the Gig Economy. This post by Pyeonghwa Kim discusses how workers are redefining success in gig work, including five key components of freelancing success.
Platform-mediated Markets, Online Freelance Workers and Deconstructed Identities. This YouTube video explains how freelancers’ identities are being reshaped, diminished and controlled by digital labor platforms.