April 30, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Occupations of independent contractors

More than 8 million persons worked as independent contractors in 1999. Independent contractors were more likely than traditional workers to hold managerial, professional specialty, sales, and production jobs.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among independent contractors, 20.5 percent were in executive, administrative and managerial positions, compared with 14.6 percent of workers in traditional arrangements. In addition, 18.9 percent of independent contractors were in precision production, craft, and repair jobs; 18.5 percent in professional specialty jobs; and 17.3 percent in sales jobs. The corresponding figures for traditional workers were 10.5 percent for production, 15.5 percent for professional, and 12.0 percent for sales.

These data are a product of a February supplement to the monthly Current Population Survey. "Independent contractors" are workers identified as independent contractors, independent consultants, or freelance workers, whether they were self-employed or wage and salary workers. Find out more in "Characteristics of and preference for alternative work arrangements,1999," by Marisa DiNatale, Monthly Labor Review, March 2001.