Gig Economy is Part of a Long-Term Trend

The gig economy actually is not new. In recent years we have called them contingent workers. Nor is the use of  freelancers or independent contractors new. What arguably is new is the percentage and number of workers doing so full time by choice 

source: Brookings 

In 1989 some 17 percent of the U.S. workforce worked as independent contractors. By 2020 some 43 percent of U.S. workers were contingent. 

Since the official end of the 2008 Great Recession, the number of  temporary or contingent 

workers has substantially risen by more than 50 percent to 2.7 million, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve That is the biggest increase since the government began to record these figures in 1990. But the trend has been in place since before 1990. 

source: Intuit 

In 2020 about 40 percent of U.K. workers were contingent rather than employees.