[Podcast] Survey Shows Recession Hit Freelancers Hard

Posted on | May 10, 2010 | Comments Off

Weekly microbusiness news podcast

One of the things the Freelancer’s Union pointed out in their introductory notes about their survey was that “independent workers” as the GAO styled them — independent contractors, consultants, part-time workers, temporary workers, self-employed entrepreneurs — comprise 30% of the workforce.

That’s a fairly large chunk of the labor market. All things considered, you wouldn’t think anybody would have to suggest that some things need to be done about/for them. Except that the unimaginative public servants involved can’t seem to think of anything to do for the independent workforce except to suggest to them that they’d be better off if they got “real jobs.”

Well, either that or start “real businesses.” It really is enough to make you want to scream.

I hope somebody takes it into their head to track the independent workforce, to see if it starts to grow. It seems to me that it should already have grown significant, given the behavior of the nonemployer business population over the last decade. (It may even be reasonable to use one as a surrogate for the other.) That will at least give us a few ideas about growth and economic impact.

Also in this week’s microbusiness news, we have universal broadband access and small business exporting. And, as always, another Policy Matters column.

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