Serving to connect providers and freelance workers with customers, online marketplaces and applications within the on-demand economy are predicted to experience a significant increase in employment within the next five years. According to a new study and forecast from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) and Emergent Research, on-a new study and forecast from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) and Emergent Research, on-demand marketplaces will employ an estimated 7.6 million Americans by 2020, more than double the current total of 3.2 million.
“The rapid growth of on-demand marketplaces is reducing the traditional friction of finding customers, enabling a new class of entrepreneurs to find a hungry market for their products and services,” said Alex Chriss, vice president and general manager of Self-Employed Solutions at Intuit.
In addition to an increase in overall employment, the study also found that the on-demand labor market will increase by 18.5 percent while 79 percent of existing on-demand providers said their on-demand career is only part-time.
“The rise of the on-demand economy is also forcing policy makers, companies, and concerned citizens to ask important questions about the future of work and how best to create stability for this new breed of entrepreneur. At Intuit, we’re committed to creating solutions that strike a balance between the advantages of innovative business models, while ensuring that entrepreneurs receive the supports and stability they deserve.”
Growth within the on-demand economy is just a component of a broader long-term growth trend in the contingent workforce caused by structural changes in employment over time including:
–Decline in defined benefit pensions: in 1982 60% of full-time workers at U.S. private sector firms were enrolled in defined-benefit pension plans. Today, it’s a mere 14%.
–Growth in average duration of unemployment: from 8.5 weeks in 1980, to 12 weeks in 2000, to 82.1 weeks in 2015.
The overall continent workforce has grown from 17 percent of the U.S. workforce 25 years ago, to 36 percent today, and is predicted to reach 43 percent by 2020.
“The on-demand economy is poised to transform long-held assumptions about how the labor market works,” said Steve King, partner at Emergent Research. “It’s vital that we hear directly from the workers who are on the front lines of this shift so that we have the objective data and analysis we need to make informed policy choices.”
