Are Freelancers Happier Than Full-Time Employees?

From the National Journal, Alexia Fernández Campbell discusses the growth in the number of freelancers and some of the benefits and risks.  Alexia also addresses the question as to whether they are happier than full-time employees and writes:

So are freel­an­cers ac­tu­ally hap­pi­er than full-time em­ploy­ees? In­dic­a­tions are that free­dom, choice and flex­ib­il­ity seem to equal hap­pi­ness. Here’s the fine print on this grow­ing seg­ment of the work­force, ac­cord­ing the sur­vey:

• Nearly 54 mil­lion people have done freel­ance work in the past year, com­pared with 53 mil­lion in 2014.
• 60 per­cent of freel­an­cers said they star­ted freel­an­cing by choice.
• Two-thirds of people sur­veyed say freel­an­cing gives them more flex­ib­il­ity to de­term­ine work hours and loc­a­tion.
• More than half of freel­an­cers—60 per­cent—who left tra­di­tion­al jobs say they are now mak­ing more money. Of that group, 78 per­cent say they were mak­ing more money with­in a year.
• About 69 per­cent of freel­an­cers say tech­no­logy has made it easi­er for them to find work, with 42 per­cent of them find­ing work on­line.
• The No. 1 reas­on people took up freel­an­cing was to make more money, fol­lowed by flex­ib­il­ity and fin­an­cial ne­ces­sity.
• Freel­an­cers are ex­pec­ted to make up 40 per­cent of the work­force by 2020.

Read the full story at Are Freelancers Happier Than Full-Time Employees?