Despite freelancers union/upwork claim, freelancing is not becoming Americans’ main source of income

A much-publicized Freelancers Union/Upwork (FU/U) study in 2014 claimed that freelancers comprised 53 million workers representing about 34 percent of all workers; a second, recently released study finds 54 million freelancers. The FU/U estimate stands in stark contrast to what the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tells us: there were just 14.8 million self-employed workers in 2014 representing 10.1 percent of employment. Who is right?