Independent Contracting, Self-Employment, and Gig Work: Evidence from California Tax Data

Annette Bernhardt, Christopher Campos, Allen Prohofsky, Aparna Ramesh and Jesse Rothstein

No 30327, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We use de-identified data from California personal income tax returns to measure the frequency and nature of independent contracting and self-employment work in California. We identify this work by the presence of a Schedule C on the tax return and/or the receipt of a Form 1099 information return. We estimate that 14.4% of California workers aged 18-64 in tax year 2016 had some independent contracting or self-employment income; about half of these workers also had earnings from traditional W-2 jobs during the year. We find that only a small share (1.4%) of workers had earnings from online labor platforms (often called gig work). Workers with low earnings were significantly more likely to earn independent contracting or self-employment income and to rely primarily or exclusively on that income. We explore the characteristics of workers engaging in independent contracting and self-employment and their distribution across family type, geography, and industry.

JEL-codes: J24 J4 J46 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-iue and nep-lma
Note: LS
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published as Annette Bernhardt & Christopher Campos & Allen Prohofsky & Aparna Ramesh & Jesse Rothstein, 2023. "Independent Contracting, Self-Employment, and Gig Work: Evidence from California Tax Data," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(2), pages 471-471, March.
Published as Annette Bernhardt & Christopher Campos & Allen Prohofsky & Aparna Ramesh & Jesse Rothstein, 2023. "Independent Contracting, Self-Employment, and Gig Work: Evidence from California Tax Data," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(2), pages 357-386, March.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w30327.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Independent Contracting, Self-Employment, and Gig Work: Evidence from California Tax Data (2023)
Journal Article: Independent Contracting, Self-Employment, and Gig Work: Evidence from California Tax Data (2023)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30327

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w30327

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().