2017 Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements — 2018-06-07

In May 2017, 3.8 percent of workers--5.9 million persons--held contingent jobs, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. These contingent workers are persons who do not expect their jobs to last or who report that their jobs are temporary. Using three different measures, contingent workers accounted for 1.3 percent to 3.8 percent of total employment in May 2017. (See tables A and 1.) In February 2005, the last time the survey was conducted, all three measures were higher, ranging from 1.8 percent to 4.1 percent of employment. In addition to contingent workers, the survey also identified workers who have various alternative work arrangements. In May 2017, there were 10.6 million independent contractors (6.9 percent of total employment), 2.6 million on-call workers (1.7 percent of total employment), 1.4 million temporary help agency workers (0.9 percent of total employment), and 933,000 workers provided by contract firms (0.6 percent of total employment).