Since the financial crisis, the United States has been referred to as a Part-Time Jobs Nation. If the country could only be so lucky! It’s now going to be referred to as the Temp Jobs Nation moving forward.
There’s been a lot of talk about an extinction of the full-time employee. The rise of the temp, freelance, independent, 1099 (whatever you want to call it) economy is becoming more prominent with every passing year, and there is no sign of a slowdown whatsoever. It’s only going up, something exacerbated by those sick and tired of the 9 to 5 asphalt jungle routine and employers who don’t want to pay so much for labor through payroll taxes, benefits and perks.
It was recently reported that there are approximately 17 million “independent” workers in the United States today, and they now account for a larger share of the workforce than at any other time in history. Some see this as a negative because temps or freelancers don’t enjoy the same perks as full-time workers receive, such as vacation time, health insurance or retirement benefits. The positive? You get to work for yourself, expand your work-life balance and be an entrepreneur.
The trend for the past couple of years has been corporations getting rid of their full-time employees and bringing in either independent contractors or temp workers to perform the same tasks.
Considering that the middle class has become the minority (SEE: Middle class being wiped out in Fed-obsessed, Obama economy), many fear that this rising trend will generate more harm than good. Whether or not you agree with this sentiment, some foresee some changes in the freelance economy in 2016.
5 Predictions for 2016
Forbes magazine published a list of five predictions for 2016 in the freelance economy. Here they are:
The Debate Around Regulation Continues
“Many — myself included — have written about the antiquated labor laws causing so much chaos in the freelance economy. While most acknowledge that today’s laws around worker classification and independent contracting reflect decade-old definitions, there has yet to be anything done. Will that change in 2016?”
Human Resource Management Starts
“Human Capital Management. Vendor Management Systems. Freelance Management Systems. The technology, data and insights needed to effectively manage every component of a modern workforce is growing more complex by the day. As a result, today’s savvy enterprises are beginning to simplify how they think about and manage their entire workforce.”
Time to go Mobile
“In 2016, the rise of the mobile workforce will gather momentum. With a third of the U.S. workforce now freelancing in some form or fashion, we’ll expect to see millions of Americans relying on their mobile device to pay their taxes, plan their work schedules, withdraw their earnings, and even buy health insurance.”
Will On-Demand Dry up?
“By our count there are over 300 niche marketplaces for specific talent. Lawyers on-demand. Doctors on-demand, the list goes on and on. While investments in the on-demand sector topped nearly $9 billion in 2015, we can expect to see some of that funding dry up next year and investors start to discern winners from losers in each market.”
Enterprise Meet On-Demand
“Will 2016 finally be the year the enterprise dominoes start to fall with regards to on-demand adoption? We’ve seen plenty of enterprises in 2016 begin embracing an on-demand labor model that allows them to be more financially flexible, operationally nimble and globally competitive.”
Final Thoughts
For seasoned freelancers, this is your time to shine. For those freelancers who are just starting out, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Who knows what the future has in store for us? Perhaps when millennials enter middle age, the economy will consist of workers who are combining part-time work with temp work and freelancing. The concept of full-time work will be nothing more than a moment in time when employees were chained to their desks collecting a paycheck and being diagnosed with arthritis in their wrists.
This also means you’ll be waiting longer for a seat at Starbucks or Tim Hortons as the freelancers take up all the tables.
–AM
Uh, no. Considerations like volume crowd sourcing and profit over debt/cost in real time per unit of activity are the real bottom line binders. Temp employees provides only a very temporary window of leverage relief. More often the temp worker winds up spinning his economic wheels and getting little to nowhere to any income growth or stability benefit. In fact giving more advantage to business over labor. As ‘workers’ are less inclined to organize or support unions. Temporarily duped into believing they are advancing intermediade pseudo-entrepreneurs with expanding opportunities to shine, etc. But only sent further down Uber Avenue into the saturation sunset.
I was a contract (Temp or Job Shop) mechanical and civil/structural field fit-up design engineer for over 30 years. So I have a bit more background history grasp of temp work long before such became a popular notion.
It became common knowledge that those who sought to take the next step and do consulting privately out of their home office (largely afforded by advancing ACAD technology from Autodesk and the Internet), often already having a list of contacts who prefer familiar faces- only to discover how difficult it is in reality to get paid for projects without a legal team and attendant brick and mortar business structure. Quietly, clients too often would stall, or even refuse to honor s contract when the job was finished. What are you going to do, take ’em to court with a frivolous law suit that’s laughed out of Court long after you’re dead broke???