1997 Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements — 1997-12-02

The proportion of U.S. workers who hold contingent jobs--basically those jobs that are not expected to last--declined slightly in the 2 years between February 1995 and February 1997, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Using three alternative estimates (table A), contingent workers accounted for 1.9 to 4.4 percent of all employment in February 1997; the range was 2.2 to 4.9 percent in February 1995. The analysis in this release is focused on the broadest estimate of contingent workers. During this 2-year period, there was little change in the proportions of the employed who had alternative work arrangements--the 6.7 percent (8.5 million workers) who were identified as independent contractors, the 1.6 percent (2.0 million workers) who were on-call workers, the 1.0 percent (1.3 million workers) who worked for temporary help agencies, and the 0.6 percent (800,000 workers) who worked for contract firms.