As the nation's remote workforce continues to grow, many remote workers are choosing to live in places they wouldn't have been able to if they were constrained to living near their workplace's physical location.
Miles Everson, CEO of MBO Partners, said on Gallup's podcast that the flexibility of remote work will give people more freedom in choosing where to live. According to Airbnb, in 2021, people traveled to new places in the U.S., and long-term stays have continued to increase in 2022.
"I believe that because of the increased acceptance of remote work, more and more independents will choose to live in places that maybe they otherwise wouldn't have lived in because they thought they would have had to be close to a physical location of a client or a company. So that flexibility is certainly important," Everson said.
By 2027, the number of freelancers in the U.S. is expected to increase to 86.5 million, or half of the total workforce, according to Fast Company. Full-time freelancers represented 28% of the workforce in 2019, increasing to 36% in 2020. 30% of Fortune 100 companies utilize freelance workers, according to Upwork CEO Hayden Brown.
“Freelancers are in high demand in pretty much every skill area that can be done in front of a computer," Brown said.
Throughout 2021 and into 2022, more than twice as many Airbnb guests have booked long-term stays than in 2019, Airbnb reported. Approximately one in every five nights booked through Airbnb is part of a long-term stay. More than 8,100 cities and towns across the world have received their first ever Airbnb booking since March 2020.
According to a report from MBO Partners, 59% of male gig workers and 74% of female freelancers say they enjoy working independently because of the flexibility this type of work offers. Freelance statistics show that the majority of independent workers aim to stay independent. 54% of men and 43% of women earn more money working as freelancers.
MBO Partners is a jobs platform that serves to connect independent professional workers with businesses that can utilize their skills.