The workforce is changing as more people swap the security of a 9-to-5 job for the flexibility of freelancing, with key demographics and industries leading the self-employed sector, according to a new study from Instant Offices. ‘Millennials’ and UK workers facing significant lifestyle changes, such as motherhood, or nearing retirement, and are looking for more flexible ways to work. According to the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE), the self-employed sector now includes approximately 4.8 million people, with freelancers comprising 42 percent of that population and 6 percent of the UK workforce as a whole. The IPSE reports that in 2016, freelancers contributed £119 billion to the national economy. This was up from £109 billion in 2015 and experts are predicting that this number will only continue to grow in the years to come.

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Freelance website Upwork and the Freelancers Union have published the results of a report called Freelancing in America: 2017, which the sponsors claim is the most comprehensive measure of the US independent workforce, (but given their vested interests probably needs you to add a pinch of salt and always worth reading Trustpilot reviews). The fourth annual study estimates that 57.3 million Americans are freelancing (36 percent of the US workforce) and contribute approximately $1.4 trillion annually to the economy, an increase of almost 30 percent since last year.

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Although British Prime Minister PM Theresa May has recently, announced a Government review into how employment rights can be extended to freelancers, a new survey claims that the vast majority of the self-employed don’t really want them. The admittedly small scale study of 250 freelancers from ContractorCalculator claims that 80 percent aren’t interested in them anyway and a mere 7 percent think they would be of benefit.

Key findings from the survey include:

• 88 percent of freelancers don’t want maternity/paternity rights
• 82 percent do not want paid sick leave
• 85 percent say no to holiday rights and pay
• 80 percent shun extra rights to help with grievances or disciplinary matters
• 94 percent don’t want restrictions on the amount of hours they can work
• 74 percent believe more employment rights would compromise their tax status and complicate their tax affairs.
• More than half of respondents also raised concern that the provision of such rights would both restrict their flexibility and result in lower earnings.

“These results are not surprising,” claims CEO Dave Chaplin. “The Government needs to understand that the negative reports associated with self-employed couriers and drivers are woefully unrepresentative of all of the self-employed. There are several million self-employed businesspeople working on a business to business basis with their customers who are very happy with the way they work and the last thing they want is further legislative burdens.”