Gen Z Is Embracing Full-Time Freelance Work

Just over half of Gen Z workers are taking on freelance work, and 53% of that group are freelancing full time, according to a recent survey by Upwork.

A previous survey conducted last year by the Upwork Research Institute and Edelman DXI of all generations found that 38% of the U.S. workforce, or 64 million people, performed freelance work in 2023, an increase of 4 million from 2022.

This year’s subsequent survey broke out data by age group and revealed that 52% of Gen Z professionals freelance, compared with 44% of Millennials, 30% of Gen X, and 26% of Baby Boomers.

Notably, over half of those Gen Z workers who freelance are making a career out of freelancing—performing freelance work for at least 40 hours per week across a portfolio of different types of work. One-third said they have been working like this for over two years.

The data suggests that the youngest and fastest-growing generation of workers may be moving away from traditional, single-employer, 9-to-5 work arrangements.

“Our research shows that the next generation of talent sees the modern career as much more diversified and dynamic than generations past,” said Kelly Monahan, managing director of the Upwork Research Institute. “They want freedom, control, and autonomy that allows them to take advantage of new, distributed ways of working that ultimately impact their performance and financial stability.”

Research has shown that members of Gen Z have more of an entrepreneurial mindset than previous generations and crave more flexible careers, according to Tony Buffum, vice president of HR client strategy at Upwork. “This is an ideal time for anyone to be more entrepreneurial—due to technology that makes work more transparent and adaptable to working from anywhere—but Gen Z sees how to take advantage of that more than previous generations,” he said.

Although Gen Z freelancers, like all workers, are motivated by pay, top intrinsic motivators for freelancing include flexibility (70%), the ability to work from the location of their choosing (64%), the ability to pursue work they are passionate about (62%), and the ability to take more control over their personal development and career path (61%).

“They want to advance in their careers without having to climb an arbitrary career ladder, and the generations that follow will seek that independence even more,” Buffum said.

“The very nature of employment is changing,” said Bruce Tulgan, founder and CEO of Rainmaker Thinking, a management training and consulting firm, and a leading expert on generational differences in the workplace. “Traditional, full-time, onsite, exclusive employment with one employer is diminishing as an overall percentage of employment in general, and that trend is stronger among younger workers. On top of that, there is a growing premium on flexibility. Gen Z is not thinking about building a career and wrapping a life around it; they are thinking about building a life and wrapping a career around that life.”

Buffum added that the stigma around freelancing is slowly breaking down. “You really can’t generalize who freelancers are and the type of work they do and how they like to work,” he said. “More employers are understanding that, and the better employers understand that, the better they can engage this valuable talent.”

Employer Takeaways

As Gen Z workers continue to build their careers around freelancing, talent acquisition leaders should think critically about assembling teams made up of the right mix of full-time employees and freelancers.

“Employers will have to shift away from the talent acquisition mindset—which implies you own the talent—to an access mindset,” Buffum said. “Access means you can partner with talent; they’re getting what they need, and you’re getting what you need. The acquisition mindset suited the labor market relationship of previous decades. Now that that has changed, employers will have to change their thinking, as well.”

Tulgan added that “hiring people to come to the same building during the same hours and climb the ladder and wait for the system to take care of them in the long term will be hard to sell to Gen Z. Employers will need to adopt new ways to employ people, including considering part-timers, contractors, freelancers, outsourcing, a fluid talent pool, all kinds of flexibility.”