Specifically, insight can be gleaned-if one knows where to look for it-from an obscure Census Bureau dataset on “nonemployer firms,” which tracks the activity of “businesses” that earn at least $1,000 per year in gross revenues (or $1 in construction) but employ no workers. However, it turns out that for all of the limitations of the available data, additional light can in fact be thrown on the online gig economy. So far, though, the findings have yet to be extended to city-by-city estimates of growth or comparisons of activity across metro areas. Overall, these national analyses have tended to describe a small but rapidly growing realm of platform-enabled freelancing. Some skeptics, by way of aggregate self-employment statistics, conclude that “proof of the revolution…is hard to find.” Others have worked directly with platform company data or leveraged other proprietary information to assess the size and nature of online gigging. No less than 81 percent of the four-year net growth in nonemployer firms in the rides sector took place in the 25 largest metros, while 92 percent occurred in the largest 50 metros.Īs a result, debates have flared over the true size and significance of the sector. The spread of nonemployer firms between 20 occurred mostly in the largest metro areas. Gig economy activity is unevenly distributed in the rides and rooms industries. Online gigging in the rides and rooms industries is so far concentrated in large metropolitan areas. Instead, payroll employment has increased in these industries, particularly in the passenger ground transit sectors. Despite the uptick in nonemployer contractors, payroll employment in “rides and rooms” industries has not declined during the last five years. Platform-based freelancing is not yet substantially displacing payroll employment-but that could change. Overall, there has been a clear surge in nonemployer firms’ - a measure of contractor and freelance individuals - business activity in the last decade, which almost certainly reflects, at least in part, the rise of online platforms. The gig economy, as reflected by nonemployer firms, is significant and growing fast.