So about that recovery?

One in Three U.S. Workers Is a Freelancer - At Work - WSJ

More evidence that this isn’t your parents’ labor market: Roughly one in three U.S. workers is now a freelancer.
Fifty-three million Americans, or 34% of the nation’s workforce, qualify as freelancers, according to a new report from the Freelancers Union, a nonprofit organization, and Elance-oDesk Inc., a company that provides platforms for freelancers to find work. These individuals include independent contractors, temps, and moonlighters, among others.
The figures provide an update of sorts to a 2006 report from the U.S. General Accountability Office, which found that approximately 31% of American workers were employed on some kind of contingent basis, such as freelancers, part-timers or temps. That was the last time the government attempted a comprehensive survey of this growing segment of the labor force.
The experience of work has fractured in recent years, said Fabio Rosati, chief executive of Elance-oDesk. Layoffs that accompanied the recession forced many individuals to forge a living from short-term gigs, while online marketplaces such as Elance, TaskRabbit and Uber emerged to match independent workers with companies or individuals in need of labor. Plus, the rise of mobile technologies allow more people to work when and where they choose.