While many recent headlines have touted the growth in gig work across the United States, most part-time workers say they would prefer a full-time permanent option, according to McKInsey’s America Opportunity Survey. On the contrary, most companies plan to increase hiring of employees who work on contract or part-time, rather than full-time employees.
Even though part-time and gig workers enjoy flexibility in jobs and the ability to set their own schedules in some cases, these workers were most impacted by loss of income during the pandemic, and nearly one-quarter of them reported that they could not afford health insurance while many others were also struggling with basic living expenses. Nearly two-thirds of contract, freelance and gig workers said they would like to have permanent employment; these numbers increase for Black, Latino and both first- and second-generation immigrant respondents.
However, gig and part-time workers did note feeling more optimistic about the economy in general than their full-time peers, and this group is enrolling in additional training and continuing education at a rate that is more than double that of other workers.
As part of its recent survey, McKinsey interviewed 25,000 U.S. workers in spring 2021, and nearly 30 percent of those surveyed were freelance, contract or temporary gig workers.