Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

Morning Consult's In a Robust Job Market, Gig Workers Satisfaction on a Par With Wider Workforce covers the results of their recent survey of employed Americans.    Morning Consult also provides their questions and a detailed set of survey crosstab results. So has pretty much every other study done on gig workers.  

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 8, 2018

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) caused quite a stir yesterday with the release of their 2017 Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangement (CWS) survey results.  workforce was slightly smaller than they reported the last time the survey was done, which was 13 years ago. gig/contract workers in the U.S. So what’s going on?

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2017 UPS 155

Small Business Labs

JUNE 11, 2019

Interesting survey resluts from Bankrate on side hustles.    According to their findings: nearly half of working Americans (45 percent) surveyed reported having a side gig in addition to their primary job.    48% of millennials, 39% of Gen Xers and 28% of Baby Boomers reported having side gigs.

Expenses 119

Expenses 119

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 2, 2018

Dog food manufacturer Purina recently  released the results of a survey of dog owners.    Not surprising to anyone who has followed the pet humanization trend , 95% of dog owners say their dog is part of the family. 

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 14, 2018

Getting somewhat lost in the debates around the results from the BLS's 2017 Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements survey (CWS) are several interesting findings about independent contractors. 

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2017 UPS 148

Small Business Labs

MAY 20, 2021

Forerunner Ventures' The universal holding pattern: a period of trial followed by an era of opportunity   covers survey work they've done on the impact of the pandemic on consumers. The main reason Forerunner's survey found for the growing interest in self-employment is flexibility. 

Travel 344

Travel 344

Small Business Labs

MAY 8, 2013

of the respondents of our annual independent worker survey. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first time coworking blipped on a national, statistically significant survey of any kind.  This survey was conducted a few months after our survey.  This survey was conducted a few months after our survey.

UPS 100

UPS 100

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 24, 2012

Our friends at Deskmag have released the 3rd annual global coworking survey. Last year over 1500 people from 20+ countries filled out the survey. So if you work or have worked at coworking space please take 5-10 minutes and fill out the survey.   Click here to take the survey.

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 23, 2017

The RideShare Guy released their  2017 Survey Results: Driver Earnings, Satisfaction and Demographics.  This confirms something we see across all our survey work on the gig economy.   It has lots of interesting data on those who drive for services like Uber and Lyft. 

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2017 AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 15, 2014

The Freelancers Union is conducting a survey on how freelancers work and live. The goals of the survey are to better understand how freelancers are changing the definition of success and how they are working with one another to improve their business outcomes. The survey is short and will take 7-9 minutes to complete.

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Policies Promotion Goals 100

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 22, 2013

Interesting results from a survey from the media company Hulafrog show that most Moms want to work part-time.  The survey results are summarized in the infographic below. One important point is the survey is not based on a statistical sample of U.S. Instead, Hulafrog surveyed their online members. women or U.S.

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 21, 2016

The Fiscal Times article This Is Why Freelancing Is the Hot Work Trend  covers a Staples survey showing that 12 percent of office workers do freelance work on the side in addition to their regular job. This is yet another survey showing that more and more people are taking on side gigs and/or moonlighting. 

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Staples 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 10, 2011

You many have noticed that different surveys show very different small business social media usage rates. For example, the Wall Street Journal article Facebook Tops for Small Business reported on a survey that found small businesses quite positive about social media.    Another point of view comes from Citibank.

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Social Media 2011 Facebook AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

JUNE 24, 2020

This study is another example of cloud-based, digital data being used instead of traditional survey methods - something we are doing with increasing frequency. We're not suggesting that traditional methods (surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.) will disappear.

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Restaurants Policies Interviewing 288

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Key quote from Bloomberg's When You Can’t Work From Barcelona, Boulder Might Do , which covers the study: " there is a massive and growing reserve army of digital-nomad wannabes — people who tell the survey-takers they’re planning on going nomadic in the next two or three years, or at least thinking about it."

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Social Media 2020 AT&T Learning 272

Small Business Labs

MAY 31, 2016

Despite the impressive numbers, the press has been reporting that the Pew survey found few Americans are participating in the on-demand economy.   But based on the media coverage, you'd think these services hardly have any customers. " Somehow the fact that 72% reported using on-demand platforms escaped their attention.

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2012 2011 Legal Collaborate 100

Small Business Labs

JUNE 15, 2020

Work From Home Survey 2020 report. The survey was done between April 16th to May 4th and the respondents "were required to be working full time for a company of 100 or more people, to have worked in an office environment prior to COVID-19, and to be currently working from home." 

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2020 Collaborate Environment AT&T 241

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 28, 2016

Vanity Fair's The Obama Administration Is Finally Getting Serious About the On-Demand Economy covers the plan by the Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to run the contingent worker supplement as part of the May 2017 current population survey.    In the forecasting world, we call this a signal.

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2005 2017 UPS 100

Small Business Labs

MARCH 15, 2021

   In our work, we've learned surveys asking aspiration questions or questions on hot topics or things that sound like fun result in a large number of false positives.    And survey questions about becoming a digital nomad are a good example.  

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2020 Social Media 2019 Travel 266

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 28, 2019

" As part of the study BCG surveyed 11,000 workers in 11 countries: the US, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Japan, India, Indonesia, China, and Brazil. BCG took a different approach to their survey than others have. They're also consistent in finding most gig workers chose gig work and most prefer it over other options.

Skills 229

Skills 229

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 7, 2019

.  Making Ends Meet: The Role of Informal Work in Supplementing Americans’ Income looked at data from the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Household Economics and Decision Making (SHED). The study found "28 percent of adults age 18 and older participated in informal work for pay during the survey reference month."

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2017 2005 2014 2007 206

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 10, 2020

Our research on small business formation shows about 9% of those who say in surveys they plan to start a small/solopreneur business over the next 2-3 years in our surveys end up doing so.    So our data is pretty consistent with the Census.

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2008 2009 Interviewing UPS 273

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 3, 2019

According to a recent Job Creators Network Foundation survey , "Sixteen-percent of Americans say they are likely to start a new business in 2019." This is an example of the false positive problem with survey data.    The false positive problem crops up in many surveys (including ours). Most won't. 

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2019 2016 Networking UPS 193

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

The Freelancers Union and Elance - oDesk released a study showing that 34% of the American workforce freelances in some form. According to the study, 53 million Americans said they engaged in some form of freelance work in the past year. The study breaks these folks into 5 segments: "Independent Contractors" (40%, or 21.1

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Elance 2020 Forms 2010 100

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

According to a survey by the HR consulting firm Mercer , 73% of the firms surveyed plan to implement a hybrid work environment that includes both in-office and remote work. And a Gartner study found that 82% of executives surveyed plan on allowing employees to work remotely at least some of the time. 

AT&T 213

AT&T Environment UPS 213

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 26, 2021

   This the 16th year WEF has issued a global risk report and the results come from an extensive risk survey of a wide range of risk related professionals. The World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Risk Report identifies the top risks faced by businesses and society over the next decade.  

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2021 2020 271

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 3, 2021

the Tilt , a content marketing site, recently released The Unconventionals , a survey and study of online content entrepreneurs. " The survey respondents split almost evenly between full-time content creators (52%) and part-time content creators (48%).  Others are powering high-growth content ventures that employ many."

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 24, 2019

According to a recent Intuit survey , about 60% of small businesses with fewer than 20 employees use outside accountants to help them with their taxes.    The study chart below shows the answers given by the survey respondents.   The study chart below shows the answers given by the survey respondents.

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Stress 190

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 3, 2016

We used statistical clustering based on the results of a survey of about 4500 on-demand economy workers.    We're currently in the field with this year's On-Demand Economy survey.   That the two approaches led to similar results shows that a clear picture of on-demand economy work and workers is emerging. 

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Lifestyle Interviewing Health 2020 218

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 30, 2018

    It was based on a gig economy survey they conducted with Marist Poll. The highlights from their survey are: NPR/Marist Poll Highlights. The highlights from their survey are: NPR/Marist Poll Highlights. Overall the survey results are consistent with the growing number of other gig economy surveys. 

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Small Business Labs

JULY 5, 2016

We were very surprised by the results from  a recent survey  on contingent work done by a group consisting of the Aspen Institute’s Future of Work Initiative, the Markle Foundation, Burson-Marsteller and TIME Magazine. Time Magazine has more detail in their article on the survey.

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AT&T 172

Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 26, 2019

The European online talent marketplace Malt and the European Forum for Independent Professionals recently released Freelancing in Europe , a study based on a survey of close to 1,000 European freelancers.    The results are generally consistent with studies of U.S. freelancers.   BTW, Malt recently raised $28.6  

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 20, 2021

" The reason hybrid work is winning is surveys consistently show most workers and their bosses think hybrid is the best way to go. For example, PWC's study It’s time to reimagine where and how work will get done found that "less than one in five executives say they want to return to the office as it was pre-pandemic."

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Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 18, 2018

Marketplace and Edison research recently released Americans and the Gig Economy, a survey of gig workers.    The survey covered a lot of ground, including finding about 24% of American 18 and older are gig workers.   The survey also asked a series of questions about economic anxiety.

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Stress Expenses 172

Small Business Labs

APRIL 23, 2019

The Federal Reserve recently released its 2019 Small Business Credit Survey.    A key finding is the use of online lending sources by small businesses is rapidly expanding.    As the study chart below shows (click to enlarge), in 2018 32% of small businesses seeking credit applied to an online lender.

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Finance 2018 2016 2019 216

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 3, 2020

According to the Wall Street Journal's Economic Forecasting Survey, 70% of economists think the recovery will be swoosh shaped. The swoosh refers to the shape of Nike's logo and indicates a recession that starts with a steep decline and is followed by a gradual recovery. consumer spending.  

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Health AT&T 272

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 22, 2019

Several recent surveys focused on the pay rates on income of independent and freelance writers. The Authors Guild’s 2018 Author Income Survey collected pay data from over 5,000 published book authors.   The second survey comes from The Make a Living Writing blog.   But again there is good news.

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2018 2017 2019 158