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Spend on contingent workers holds steady at $1.4 trillion

Spend on contingent workers holds steady at $1.4 trillion

Craig Johnson
| September 23, 2024
Labor day: workers posing together and standing

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There were 18.3 million contingent workers in the US, and they generated $1.4 trillion in B2B spend in 2023, according to SIA’s new report, The US Gig Economy 2024. The estimated amount earned is unchanged from 2022; however, the number of contingent workers was estimated down from 19.4 million.

Contingent workers as defined in the report are:

  • Temporary workers assigned through staffing firms.
  • Temporary workers sourced directly — without a staffing firm.
  • Self-employed workers with no employees (independent contractors).
  • Statement-of-work consultants.
  • Platform workers —those who do work through digital marketplaces such as Upwork.

“This report is important because it shows that 84% of labor and 86% of revenue comes from sources other than staffing in the gig economy,” said Adam Pode, senior director of research, EMEA and APAC, at SIA and author of the report. “Statement of work (SOW) and platforms, in particular, are growing in importance.”

Independent contractors represented the lion’s share of revenue earned with $690.6 billion in B2B spend in 2023. They were followed by temporary workers sourced directly (not through a staffing firm) at $273.0 billion.

Temporary workers who did work through staffing firms took in B2B spend of $189.5 billion, according to the report.