Unemployed Rush to Freelancing Sites, Putting Pressure on Wages

With millions of Americans unemployed, and full-time positions scarce, there’s a massive rush to freelancer sites -- one that could result in everyone getting paid less.

Since June, more than 24,000 people -- two-thirds of them Americans -- got on the waiting list to join Braintrust, which offers contract projects from the likes of Nestle SA and Nike Inc. On Freelancer.com, user sign-ups from the U.S. rose by more than 30% between February and July, year over year. On Upwork Inc., client and freelancer registrations have jumped 50% since mid-March, when the pandemic hit.

“It has ramped up ...