Freelancers now account for nearly 35% of the U.S. workforce and the trend is only picking up speed with more professionals opting to create their own jobs in lieu of more traditional full-time employment.

As we head into the new year, we want to shed a bit more light on this burgeoning sector of the workforce. What kind of location, industry and demographic trends are surfacing among the freelance professionals of 2016? You might not know, for example, that a whopping 40% of our freelancers are concentrated in just four states: California, Texas, Florida and New York. Or that more senior men are most likely to take the leap into freelancing.

The time is ripe to be a freelancer in America so we're revealing insider insights like these to help you learn more about this trending profession. Check out the report below - gleaned from a survey of more than 9,500 of our ProFinder professionals - to see what we discovered.

Industry Favorites

Marketing, Business Consulting and Design topped the charts as the leading industries for freelance work in 2016. In fact, these three categories accounted for nearly 50% of our ProFinder survey respondents.

LinkedIn Corporation published this content on 15 December 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 December 2016 17:06:10 UTC.

Original documenthttps://blog.linkedin.com/2016/12/15/the-freelance-economy-top-trends-to-watch-in-2017-profinder

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