The State of Gig Economy in Oregon. Statistics and Trends [2022]

The sales and receipts from the gig work in Oregon have increased over 38% in the last decade. Read along to get more insights on the trends for the rise of the freelance, independent and gig work in Oregon.
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Updated Dec 12, 2022

The rise of the industrial economy in the 70s had the working population in Oregon strive to get a full time job with an employer and show up for work. It has been the norm for decades, but if we study the shift in employment statistics closely, there is a big revolution in the making.

The working population in Oregon is currently witnessing a post-industrial shift into a self dependent economy. Gen Z doesn’t want to fit in the industrial complex and look for flexibility and satisfaction in their job. 

How big is the gig economy workforce in Oregon?

26% of the small business workforce in Oregon work as independent workers.

Comparative analysis of gig economy and employment datasets for small businesses suggest a dramatic shift in how working population in Oregon work: 26% of the small business workforce work as independent workers. In Oregon there are 308,360 self employed gig workers ( freelancers and contractors ) compared to 893,405 salaried employees in small business payroll ( firms with less than 500 employees).

The gig economy workforce of self employed independent contractors, freelancers, also identified as non employer firms are becoming an important factor in Oregon. As per the current 2019 NES ( released on June 30, 2022) there are 308,360 gig businesses in Oregon, up from 258,805 in 2010. 


Year No. of gig workers Receipts ($billion)
2010 258,805 11
2011 259,810 11
2012 261,156 12
2013 260,438 12
2014 269,901 13
2015 278,839 13
2016 286,538 14
2017 295,127 14
2018 302,653 15
2019 308,360 15
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This increase in the gig worker population can be safely related to increase in employment opportunities created by the rise of online platforms such as Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, TaskRabbit.

Which industries contribute the most to the gig economy in Oregon?

The sector " Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services " contributed the most whereas the lowest contribution came from Utilities sector.

We aim to look at the distribution of gig economy workforce across broad 17 industry levels as defined under NAICS. As per the current 2019 NES ( released on June 30, 2022), there are 1 sectors with more than 50,000 gig workers. The sector " Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services " contributed the most with the number of gig workers as 52,733. The lowest contributor to the gig economy was the Utilities sector with just 148 gig workers across Oregon. The number of gig "businesses" according to the respective industry sectors is exhibited in the table below.

Exhibit 1


Industry Gig workers in 2010 Gig workers in 2019 Growth Growth (%)
Transportation and Warehousing 8,815 25,562 16,747 190
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 42,065 52,733 10,668 25
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation 17,155 24,619 7,464 44
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 30,734 35,900 5,166 17
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 16,188 21,273 5,085 31
Educational Services 6,684 11,206 4,522 68
Retail Trade 22,394 26,261 3,867 17
Accommodation and Food Services 3,518 6,062 2,544 72
Information 4,385 5,481 1,096 25
Manufacturing 6,777 6,901 124 2
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction 161 152 -9 -6
Utilities 180 148 -32 -18
Wholesale Trade 4,685 4,424 -261 -6
Construction 23,391 22,861 -530 -2
Finance and Insurance 6,709 6,172 -537 -8
Health Care and Social Assistance 26,334 24,782 -1,552 -6
Other Services (except Public Administration) 32,794 27,219 -5,575 -17
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The next important thing to analyze is change in the gig economy workforce across different industries over the last decade. This analysis will help us determine the true drivers in the rise of gig economy in Oregon. Analysis of the data suggests that the biggest driver in the gig economy across Oregon is the Transportation and Warehousingsector. The number of gig workers increased by 190% from 8,815 in 2010, increasing to 25,562 in the data from the current reference year NES 2019. 

For the same time period, the biggest loss of 5,575 was witnessed in the Other Services (except Public Administration) sector. The overall decline in this sector over the last decade was at 17%, witnessing a decrease to 27,219 ( in 2019 ) from 32,794 ( in 2010).

The change in the number of gig "businesses" according to the respective industry sectors over the data analysis of last 10 reference years in NES is exhibited in the table below.


County Gig workers in 2012 Gig workers in 2019 Growth Growth (%)
Multnomah 61,112 75,076 13,964 23
Washington 33,828 41,301 7,473 22
Deschutes 15,303 20,793 5,490 36
Clackamas 28,152 33,502 5,350 19
Lane 22,465 25,788 3,323 15
Marion 15,965 18,553 2,588 16
Jackson 16,197 17,968 1,771 11
Yamhill 5,708 6,875 1,167 20
Polk 3,964 4,772 808 20
Linn 5,830 6,589 759 13
Benton 5,517 6,170 653 12
Hood River 1,789 2,292 503 28
Josephine 5,656 6,128 472 8
Clatsop 2,769 3,169 400 14
Klamath 3,331 3,687 356 11
Columbia 2,621 2,971 350 13
Coos 3,551 3,885 334 9
Tillamook 1,878 2,206 328 17
Crook 1,421 1,693 272 19
Lincoln 3,471 3,701 230 7
Jefferson 955 1,183 228 24
Wasco 1,299 1,486 187 14
Curry 1,833 1,967 134 7
Douglas 5,775 5,889 114 2
Gilliam 100 141 41 41
Wallowa 794 833 39 5
Grant 474 507 33 7
Malheur 1,398 1,425 27 2
Baker 1,127 1,152 25 2
Sherman 116 126 10 9
Union 1,625 1,619 -6 0
Wheeler 141 131 -10 -7
Harney 548 529 -19 -3
Lake 503 484 -19 -4
Morrow 501 476 -25 -5
Umatilla 3,439 3,293 -146 -4
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Which counties contribute the most to the gig economy in Oregon?

The top 5 counties have 63.71% of the entire 308,360 gig workforce

Looking at the county distribution for the gig economy workers across Oregon, the top 5 counties have 63.71% of the entire 308,360 gig workforce.

On the other hand the lowest contributing locations contribute approximately 0.44% of the state level gig workforce with 1,358 gig workers in total among them.


As expected, the top counties with the most number of gig workers are also the counties with the highest growth percentage of gig workers over the last decade. The best growth achieved is by Multnomah county, where the number of gig workers increased 23% from being 61,112 in 2016 to 75,076 in 2019 ( the latest reference year for NES as per the release on Jun 30 2022).


Growth in gig economy across all of the counties in Oregon over the last decade

Who does gig work and what are the demographic profile of gig economy workers in Oregon?

Across Oregon, the number of male workers in gig economy stood at 153,000 compared to 134,000 female workers

Across Oregon, the gig work runs through every demographic profile criteria. As some of the the gigs such as delivering packages, food, driving passengers have low entry barriers work has a low barrier to start with, a lot of younger and population that is not economically established tend to take up these gigs more than the rest of population.

To get more details, we analyzed the most current Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics. We found that across Oregon, the number of male workers in gig economy stood at 153,000 compared to 134,000 female workers.


Demographic breakdown of gig economy workers, by gender, in Oregon

The distribution on the basis of ethnicity was stark and the number of non hispanics in the gig workforce stood at 277,000 compared to 19,500 workers with ethnicity as hispanic.


Demographic breakdown of gig economy workers, by ethnicity, in Oregon

On the basis of race the number of gig workers from the white population was found to be 276,000 compared to the 6,300 from black and 13,500 asian population.


Demographic breakdown of gig economy workers, by race, in Oregon


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Neilsberg Research
Neilsberg Research team are data scientists with expertise in processing, analysis and visualization of big data helping small businesses make right decisions.

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