Covid Pandemic Turns America Into a Nation of Freelancers

More than a third of the American workforce did at least some work on the side this year as the Covid-19 pandemic decimated jobs and wages.

That translates to 59 million people, or 2 million more than in 2019, according to the Freelance Forward report released Tuesday by Upwork, a firm that helps businesses find labor.

“There is this really long tail of people who participate a couple of times a month and even beyond that, a couple times a year,” said Upwork economist Adam Ozimek.

The study found that freelancers contributed $1.2 trillion to the U.S. economy ...