Flexible talent is now an $8.7 trillion market and nearly half the US workforce
Flexible talent is an $8.7 trillion global market, and 74.9 million Americans, nearly half the US workforce, did independent work in 2026.
By Matthew Mottola, Tony Buffum and Jeff Nugent · Published December 1, 2026
Key findings
Flexible talent is an $8.7 trillion global market: Staffing Industry Analysts’ estimate of workforce solutions revenue in 2024.
Source: Staffing Industry Analysts, Workforce Solutions Ecosystem: 2025 Update, December 19, 2025.
74.9 million Americans did independent work in 2026, nearly half the US workforce and two million more than a year earlier.
Source: MBO Partners, State of Independence 2026, September 28, 2026.
78% of US independents plan to stay independent or grow their business.
Source: MBO Partners, State of Independence 2026 and 2024; Upwork and Freelancers Union, Freelancing in America 2019.
Exhibit 2Independents are choosing to stay independentPercent of independent workersSource: MBO Partners, State of Independence 2026 and 2024; Upwork and Freelancers Union, Freelancing in America 2019.Source: 2026 Flexible Workforce Study, Human Cloud and Independently.
57% of companies plan to use more independent talent over the next three years and 14% plan to use less; 80% of solutions expect enterprise demand to rise and none expect it to fall.
Source: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company and solution surveys, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.
Exhibit 6Both sides of the market expect flexible talent to growExpected change over the next three years, percent of each groupSource: Human Cloud and Independently, 2026 Annual Flexible Workforce Study, company and solution surveys, fielded Aug to Sep 2026.Source: 2026 Flexible Workforce Study, Human Cloud and Independently.Over the last 90 days, the average fractional talent solution on Human Cloud drew 2.3 times the platform average in profile views, and employers of record 2.1 times.
Source: Human Cloud platform data, pulled Nov 6 and Nov 9, 2026. Bot traffic removed.
Exhibit 7Buyers look for fractional experts and employers of record mostProfile views per solution, as a multiple of the platform average, by focus area, last 90 daysSource: Human Cloud platform data, pulled Nov 6 and Nov 9, 2026. Bot traffic removed.Source: 2026 Flexible Workforce Study, Human Cloud and Independently.Talent platforms are forecast to grow 18.6% a year through 2033, almost three times the 6.8% forecast for employers of record and well ahead of the 2.3% for the US staffing industry.
Source: Grand View Research, Freelance Platforms Market Report, 2026; Verified Market Research, Employer of Record Market, updated September 2026; Staffing Industry Analysts, US Staffing Industry Forecast: September 2026 Update; US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035, August 2026.
The chapter in brief
Flexible talent is no longer a side channel. In the Americas, almost nine dollars in ten that companies spend on outside workers goes to project contracts and independent contractors, not to temps. Companies are still buying expertise from outside, but more of them are going straight to the person, or to a specialized firm, instead of through a staffing agency.
Both of the usual routes leave a gap. Staffing firms fill requisitions but rarely help with how the work should get done, and agencies and consultancies come with inflated prices and long timelines. Specialized talent platforms fill that gap: there are 1,347 on Human Cloud, each specialized in a skill set, a function, an industry or a region, and they work with business teams from problem statement to project completion.
Then come the 1,867 talent providers that take over once the talent is found: employers of record, contractor management systems, payroll and classification firms. They employ, pay and protect the people the marketplaces and platforms bring in.
Demand on Human Cloud points the same way. Fractional experts and employers of record draw the most buyer attention, because companies want people who understand their business, and once they scale above 20 contractors, management becomes the bottleneck.
The two parts of the market buyers look at hardest are starting to come together. A specialized talent platform finds the right person fast; an employer of record makes it safe to keep working with them. Bundling the two might be the greatest adoption accelerator the industry has.
From the practitioners in this chapter
“One of the things that we’re really looking at is a consultative partner.”
Solutions named in this chapter
Each one has a profile on Human Cloud, with its verified business cases.
- MBO Partners
- Upwork
- Fiverr
- Malt
- Storetasker
- Wripple
- Model B
- The Bench
- Uncompany
- Gigged.AI
- beecrowd
- Remotely
- Toptal
- Supportwave
- Business Talent Group
- Tribe AI
- TechCXO
- Catalant
- Malloy Industries
- Fractional AI
- Go Fractional
- Safeguard Global
- Deel
- Papaya Global
- Worksuite
- CXC
- Worksome
- GreenLight.AI
- Cavalry
- FoxHire
- Remote
- Lifted
- WorkMotion
- Bubty
- Ascen
- CareRev
- Clipboard Health
- IntelyCare
- &FRIENDS
- Job&Talent
- WriterBay.com
- People Per Hour
Source: 2026 Flexible Workforce Study, Human Cloud and Independently.
All the numbers: flexible workforce statistics 2026 →