The number of US freelancers has risen by 2 million since 2014 to a total of 55 million people this year, according to the third annual “Freelancing in America” report commissioned by online staffing firm Upwork and the Freelancers Union. Presently, 35% of the US workforce is freelancing compared to 34% in the previous two years.

Upwork’s new report also found that 63% began freelancing by choice rather than necessity, up from 53% in 2014.

The report comes from an online survey of 6,002 US adults who had done paid work in the previous 12 months. Research firm Edelman Intelligence conducted the report’s survey in August.

Upwork CEO Stephane Kasriel said he sees three things driving the increase in freelancers:

1. “The labor market is tight, so people have a choice,” Kasriel said.
2. There is a shift in generations; more young people are choosing to freelance.
3. More people are getting work through online platforms such as Upwork.

Kasriel said smaller companies have already moved toward the freelancing model, but adoption at larger firms has not been as speedy.

“Given that there are now 55 million freelancers in the US … it is a critical time for these big companies to think about how [they] think about freelancing in general,” he said. “At a time when the labor market is pretty good for skilled talent people are empowered to choose how they want to work.”

Other findings in the report included:

• Freelancers contributed an estimated $1 trillion in freelance earnings to our economy.
• 79% said freelancing is better than working a traditional job.
• Full-time freelancers are able to work fewer than 40 hours per week (working on average 36 hours per week). And the majority feel they have the right amount of work.
• Key concerns among full-time freelancers: being paid a fair rate, unpredictable income and debt.
• 95% of freelancers say they are likely to vote in the upcoming election, equating to 47 million votes. And 45% said they would vote for Hillary Clinton, 33% for Donald Trump, 9% for Gary Johnson and 12% didn’t know.
• 68% said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported freelancers’ interests.
• The majority of freelancers who left a full-time job made more within a year.
• 46% of full-time freelancers raised their rates in the past year, and 54% plan to raise them next year.
• 50% said there is no amount of money that would get them to take a traditional job and stop freelancing.

The report defines freelancers as individuals who have engaged in supplemental, temporary, project-based or contract-based work within the past 12 months. They included independent contractors, diversified workers (those with a mix of freelance and traditional work), moonlighters (those with a primary traditional job who freelance on the side), freelance business owners and temporary workers.