$1.3 trillion was spent on gig work in the US during 2020, Staffing Industry Analysts President Barry Asin said today in a keynote speech at the start of Collaboration in the Gig Economy conference. The lion’s share, $800 billion, was to independent contractors, and $121 billion went to temporary workers employed by staffing firms.

But while the world has tragedy and disruption at this time, there is also opportunity for growth ahead.

Some 52 million people in the US did gig work in 2020, or 35% of the workforce. Asin noted SIA’s definition of gig work includes statement-of-work consultants, temporary workers directly employed by companies, independent contractors, talent platform workers and temporary workers from staffing firms.

The Collaboration in the Gig Economy conference is taking place today and tomorrow in Phoenix, and it’s bringing together staffing firms, technology companies and enterprise contingent workforce managers.

Some key points in Asin’s keynote speech:

• Venture capital investment in HR tech is soaring.
• “Technology has always changed the way industry worked,” Asin said, arguing the first wave of tech disruption to the industry was the introduction of VMS and MSP. Today, 82% of large organizations have a VMS in place.
• The second wave of disruption is talent platforms — software that facilitates a transaction in a two-sided relationship between buyers and sellers. “These platforms are growing pretty rapidly,” Asin said. B2B work-related platforms had a compound annual growth rate of 21% in 2022, he said, citing a new report by SIA. 
• But while platforms are big news, there are other technologies impacting the industry. Artificial intelligence is changing the way job matches are done, there are uses for blockchain applications in credentialing and virtual reality could also be a next big thing.
• Traditional staffing firms are beginning to use more technology, including platform technology, which they can license for their own use. Meanwhile, some technology firms are offering services more typical of staffing firms.
• 60% of large, enterprise buyers are looking to do some form of direct sourcing.

“I think talent is going to be a winner and beneficiary from all of this,” Asin said, pointing to increased transparency, control and opportunity.

“What we see ahead is a lot of growth and a lot of change coming,” he said at the end of his keynote speech. “With that growth comes opportunity for all the players out there.”