Employment and Gig Work
Health limitations, family obligations, and not being able to find work were the most common reasons that people ages 25 to 54 gave for why they were not working. Women reported that family and personal obligations contributed to them not working more frequently than did men.
People also earned money in ways that went beyond traditional employment. In 2024, 13 percent of people made money by selling things and 9 percent made money by doing short-term tasks such as giving rides, delivering takeout, or doing odd jobs. Most people who performed these gigs agreed that they gave them flexibility, but smaller shares said that gigs gave them work-life balance. People who performed short-term tasks tended to have lower levels of financial well-being, and many said that they wished the pay was more consistent.
Reasons for Not Working for Pay
Around a quarter of prime-age adults (ages 25 to 54) were not working for pay in the month before the survey, similar to the share who were not working for pay in 2023. Health limitations or disability, family and personal obligations, not being able to find work, and childcare were the most cited reasons for not working for pay (table 2).
Table 2. Reasons for not working among prime-age adults (by demographic characteristics)
Percent
| Reason | Male | Female | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health limitations or disability | 8 | 9 | 8 |
| Family and personal obligations besides caregiving | 4 | 9 | 7 |
| Could not find work | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Childcare | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| Caregiving for an elderly, disabled, or sick adult | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Would lose access to government benefits | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| School or training | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Retired | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Note: Among adults ages 25 to 54. Respondents could select multiple answers.
Notable differences in prime-age employment rates remained between men and women. Thirty-one percent of prime-age women were not working for pay, compared with 21 percent of prime-age men. This, in part, reflects the greater family and childcare responsibilities held by women. (See the "Care Work and Living Arrangements" section of this report.)
Being unable to find a job is also an important factor for some of the prime-age adults not working. Twenty-eight percent of those not working for pay (7 percent of all prime-age adults) said that it was because they could not find work—similar to that seen in 2023. Some people who were not working at the time of the survey had recently left a job—10 percent who were not working said that they were laid off in the previous year and 9 percent said that they had left a job voluntarily. However, most (68 percent) prime-age adults who had been laid off in the prior 12 months were working when they responded to the survey.
Retirement
Retirees represent a sizeable portion of the adult population. Twenty-seven percent of adults in 2024 considered themselves to be retired, even though some were still working in some capacity.9
Frequently, multiple factors contributed to when people retired, though many said their decision was based on a preference to retire as opposed to an event that forced them to stop working. Fifty-three percent of retirees said a desire to do other things or to spend time with family was important for their decision to retire when they did, and 49 percent said they retired because they reached a normal retirement age.
Various challenges also affected when people retired. Health problems were a factor for 26 percent of retirees, and 15 percent said they retired in part to care for family members. Just under 1 in 10 said they were forced to retire or that they retired because work was not available. Collectively, health problems, caring for family, and lack of work contributed to the timing of retirement for 42 percent of retirees.
Retiring due to health problems, lack of work, or caring for family was far more common among those with less education. Half of retirees with a high school degree or less cited at least one of these reasons for the timing of their retirement, compared with 31 percent of those with at least a bachelor's degree.
Fifteen percent of retirees also said that they had done some work for pay or profit in the previous month.10 Part-time work was more common among retirees than full-time work (11 percent and 4 percent of retirees, respectively).
Those working in retirement were more likely to say that this was for non-financial reasons than for financial ones. One in ten retirees said they worked, at least in part, for non-financial reasons suchas having a sense of purpose and enjoying social connections (table 3), whereas 7 percent gave financial reasons. Four percent said they were working for both financial and non-financial reasons.
Table 3. Reasons for working in retirement (by employment status)
Percent
| Reason | Working retirees | All retirees |
|---|---|---|
| Wanted extra spending money | 36 | 6 |
| Needed money to make ends meet | 25 | 4 |
| To save more money, make retirement savings last, or delay claiming Social Security | 22 | 3 |
| Enabled me to give financial support to family or friends | 19 | 3 |
| To keep health insurance | 10 | 2 |
| Any financial reason | 45 | 7 |
| Any nonfinancial reason | 68 | 10 |
Note: Among retirees. Respondents could select multiple answers.
The most common financial reasons also were consistent with working being more of a choice than a financial imperative. Six percent of retirees said they worked to have extra spending money, and 3 percent said they worked to save more money or make their savings last longer.
Some people, however, cited stronger financial imperatives. Four percent of retirees said that they worked because they needed money to make ends meet. Another 2 percent of retirees said that they worked to keep their health insurance. Retirees who said they worked to keep their health insurance were younger than retirees overall. Eighty-three percent of retirees who said they were working to keep their health insurance were under age 65 and likely ineligible for Medicare.
Gig Activities
The SHED asks about activities that people did to earn money but that many people may think of differently than a traditional job ("gig activities").11 There is no single definition of what constitutes a gig. The SHED includes activities such as selling items such as clothing or handmade crafts; renting property or a vehicle; and doing self-contained short-term tasks such as hanging pictures for someone, delivering takeout, or giving rides to people using an app.12 Many, though not all, of these activities can help people to make ends meet, since someone can start doing them relatively quickly and easily. Some of these activities can also give people more control over their work hours than they would have with a traditional job.
Overall, 20 percent of adults performed gig activities over the prior month (table 4). Selling items was the most common activity, at 13 percent, but most people who sold things said this included selling items such as used clothing that they had previous owned for personal use. Three percent, however, sold things that they made, and 4 percent sold things that they purchased to resell (including some who did both). Additionally, 9 percent did short-term tasks, such as working as a handyman or driver.13 Four percent did platform tasks, or short-tasks that they arranged using an app or website, such as a ride-sharing or delivery app.
Table 4. Types of gig activities
| Activity | Percent |
|---|---|
| Selling or renting items | |
| Selling items made or repurposed | 3 |
| Selling items purchased to resell | 4 |
| Selling items previously owned | 10 |
| Any selling | 13 |
| Offering short-term rentals | 2 |
| Any selling or renting | 14 |
| Performing short-term tasks | |
| Short term tasks using an app or website | 4 |
| Any short term tasks | 9 |
| Any activity | 20 |
Note: Among all adults performing gig activities. Results for short-term tasks only include the half of respondents asked the new question sequence based on the Contingent Worker Supplement (CWS). Results for selling, renting, and performing any gig activity include all respondents. Respondents could select multiple categories of gig work.
Gig activities were not typically full-time jobs. Ninety-six percent of people who did gig activities said they usually spent less than 35 hours per week doing them and 70 percent spent less than 5 hours per week on them.
Additionally, relatively few people who did gig activities considered them to be their main job. In the survey people answer questions about traditional employment that they did for "pay or profit" before they are asked about gig activities. Only 21 percent of people who did these activities reported gig activities as their main job.
Since some people tend to think of gig activities differently than traditional employment, some adults doing gig activities also said they did not work for pay or profit in the prior month.14 Specifically, 28 percent of people who did gig activities (6 percent of adults) said they were not working for pay or profit while also saying that they were earning money through gigs. The problem is somewhat less apparent, however, if one only includes people who spend a large amount of time doing gig activities. A smaller 20 percent of people who usually spend more than five hours per week on gig activities reported not working. Including these people who spent five or more hours on gig work but who said they were not working would increase the employment rate by 1 percentage point.15
Characteristics of Gig Workers
Overall, younger adults and Hispanic adults were more likely to contribute to the gig economy than the overall population. Twenty-six percent of people ages 18 to 29 said they had done any gig, whereas the percentage was a smaller 12 percent for people age 60 and older (table 5). Additionally, 24 percent of Hispanic adults said they did gigs, which was higher than the rate overall.
Table 5. Share doing gig activities (by demographic characteristics)
| Characteristic | Percent |
|---|---|
| Age | |
| 18–29 | 26 |
| 30–44 | 24 |
| 45–59 | 21 |
| 60+ | 12 |
| Race/ethnicity | |
| White | 19 |
| Black | 19 |
| Hispanic | 24 |
| Asian | 17 |
| Male/female | |
| Male | 21 |
| Female | 19 |
| Parental status | |
| Parents of younger children | 26 |
| Not parents of younger children | 19 |
| Student/non-student | |
| Student | 30 |
| Non-student | 19 |
| Overall | 20 |
Note: Among all adults. Parents of younger children are those with children under age 13 living with them.
Higher rates of gig work among parents and students suggest that gig work sometimes offers flexibility for people with other obligations in their life. Twenty-six percent of parents of young children and 30 percent of students report that they did gig work, compared with 20 percent for the population overall.
Perceptions of Gig Work
To better understand how people who did these gig activities think about them, the survey asked people whether they agreed or disagreed with several statements. The statements present a series of perspectives on gig work. The most supported statement was that gig work allowed people to be their own boss (table 6), suggesting that it provides a sense of agency to many people.
Some statements probed the extent that these gig activities facilitate people's non-work lives. A slight majority (55 percent) of people who did gig activities agreed that they let them work flexible hours. A smaller 35 percent of people said that gig activities gave them work-life balance. Together, these results suggest that there is an important distinction between flexibility and work-life balance.
There also were large differences in flexibility by the type of gig activity (table 6), suggesting important differences in how each activity affects people's schedules. Seventy-eight percent of those who did short-term tasks using an app or website said that gig work gave them flexibility, far exceeding the 48 percent of those who did sales or rental activities who agreed with this statement. There also were large differences by gig activity in the share of people who agreed that doing gigs gave them work-life balance.
Table 6. Share agreeing to selected statements about gigs (by type of gig activities performed)
Percent
| Statement | Selling or renting | Short-term tasks | Platform tasks | Performed any gig activity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I am my own boss doing it | 59 | 62 | 61 | 61 |
| It lets me work flexible hours | 48 | 70 | 78 | 55 |
| I wish the pay was more consistent | 46 | 54 | 61 | 49 |
| It gives me work-life balance | 29 | 46 | 52 | 35 |
| Without it, I would have trouble making ends meet | 27 | 43 | 41 | 31 |
| I wish I got benefits, like health insurance, from doing it | 26 | 37 | 42 | 28 |
Note: Among adults performing gig activities. Results for short-term and platform tasks only include the randomized half of respondents asked the new question sequence based on the CWS. Results for selling, renting, and performing any gig activity include all respondents. Those doing multiple types of gigs are included in multiple columns.
Gig activities also helped some people to make ends meet. Overall, 31 percent of people who did gig activities said that without them, they would have trouble making ends meet. Nevertheless, there is evidence that gig workers were more likely to face financial struggles than other adults. Gig workers were less likely to say they are doing okay or living comfortably financially, with the lowest levels among people who did platform gigs, or short-term tasks that people found using an app or website (table 7). Gig workers were also less likely to have paid all of their bills in the month before the survey, to have three months of emergency savings, or to be doing better off financially than a year ago.
Perhaps reflecting this financial precarity for many people who did gig activities, nearly half of gig workers wished that the pay was more consistent (table 6). The shares were higher among people who did short-term tasks, at 54 percent, and particularly those who did short-term tasks using an app or website, at 61 percent.
While many traditional jobs provide benefits, such as health insurance and retirement programs, many gig activities do not. Overall, 28 percent of gig workers said that they wished they had health insurance. However, the share who agreed with the statement was higher, at 42 percent, among people who did short-term tasks using an app or online.
One reason why a relatively small share of gig workers said that they would have preferred to receive benefits from doing gig work is that most already had health insurance. However, rates of health insurance coverage were lower among gig workers than among other adults. Eighty-eight percent of gig workers said they had health insurance, and 53 percent have it through an employer—either from another job or from their spouse's job (table 7). Indeed, 51 percent of gig workers have a non-gig main job.
Table 7. Economic outcomes (by type of gig activities performed)
Percent
| Outcome | Selling or renting | Short-term tasks | Platform tasks | Performed any gig activity | None |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health insurance | |||||
| Medicaid or Medicare | 30 | 35 | 35 | 30 | 37 |
| Employer provided health insurance | 54 | 47 | 45 | 53 | 56 |
| Any health insurance | 88 | 86 | 86 | 88 | 92 |
| Financial well-being measures | |||||
| Doing okay or living comfortably | 67 | 59 | 55 | 65 | 75 |
| Paid all prior month's bills in full | 79 | 74 | 71 | 79 | 85 |
| Has savings to cover three months of expenses | 52 | 42 | 42 | 50 | 56 |
| Worse off financially than a year earlier | 35 | 36 | 32 | 35 | 27 |
| Other characteristics | |||||
| Lives with own child under age 13 | 26 | 25 | 27 | 25 | 17 |
| Has a non-gig main job | 51 | 41 | 41 | 51 | 57 |
Note: Among all adults. Results for short-term and platform tasks only include the randomized half of respondents asked the new question sequence based on the CWS. Results for selling, renting, and performing any gig activity include all respondents. Adults who did not pay all their bills in full are those who (1) did not pay a credit card bill or made less than the minimum payment last month or (2) did not pay another type of bill in full last month. Respondents could select multiple categories of gig work.
References
9. Retirees are defined here based on a question asking all respondents whether they are retired or not, regardless of their employment status. Return to text
10. Four percent of all adults considered themselves retired but were still working. Return to text
11. For brevity the report uses the shorthand of "gig activities" to refer to the buying, renting, and short-term tasks that are specified in the questions. However, this definition is broader than just people who use online platforms to do short-term tasks, as gig activities are sometimes described. Gig work through online platforms represents a minority of people who did gig activities according to the SHED's definition. Return to text
12. This formulation, including the more detailed questions using previous years of the survey, are based on previous explorations by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. See Anat Bracha and Mary A. Burke, "Informal Work Activity in the United States: Evidence from Survey Responses," Current Policy Perspectives 14-13 (2014), https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/Workingpapers/PDF/economic/cpp1413.pdf. In 2023, GAO recommended additional coordination between agencies in their definitions of gig and nonstandard work arrangements. See Government Accountability Office, "Work Arrangements: Improved Collaboration Could Enhance Labor Force Data" (2023), https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-24-105651.pdf. The 2024 SHED revised the short-term task-based questions to better align with those from the Census Bureau's Contingent Worker Survey (CWS), while maintaining additional questions on sales and rental activity. Return to text
13. Half of respondents were asked the new short-term task questions based on the CWS, and half were asked the previous SHED questions on freelance or gig work from the 2022 survey. Results were similar, with 9 percent of adults reporting doing short-term gig work using each question sequence. Results for short-term work and platform work are based on the half-sample who received the new questions based on the CWS approach. However, results for those doing any gig work use the entire sample, including those who were asked the old sequence. Return to text
14. Anat Bracha and Mary A. Burke, "How Big Is the Gig? The Extensive Margin, the Intensive Margin, and the Hidden Margin," Labour Economics 69 (April 2021), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2021.101974. Return to text
15. Since relatively few people did gig work full-time, including people who did gigs full-time as employed would only increase the employment to population ratio by around one-tenth of 1 percentage point. Return to text