(How common is the use of permalancers? I've seen anecdotes but few statistics.)
For those on the books, the best data to track them is from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which reports total employment including the self-employed from a variety of sources, including Schedule C (I think) of the 1040.
The self-employed have soared as a share of total employment in recent decades according to this source, especially in NY, LA and similar places. In LA, even manufacturing workers are hired as independent contractors. Others are temps hired out of the Employment Services industry.
One can also compare the change in wage and salary employment from the Current Employment Survey with the change in the number of employed residents from the household survey. The former is a survey of businesses benchmarked to unemployment insurance tax data, the latter includes everyone who says they are working including the self-employed.
The "informal sector" is now so big that you cannot really go by the CES to decide if we are in a recession or not.
For those on the books, the best data to track them is from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which reports total employment including the self-employed from a variety of sources, including Schedule C (I think) of the 1040.
The self-employed have soared as a share of total employment in recent decades according to this source, especially in NY, LA and similar places. In LA, even manufacturing workers are hired as independent contractors. Others are temps hired out of the Employment Services industry.
One can also compare the change in wage and salary employment from the Current Employment Survey with the change in the number of employed residents from the household survey. The former is a survey of businesses benchmarked to unemployment insurance tax data, the latter includes everyone who says they are working including the self-employed.
The "informal sector" is now so big that you cannot really go by the CES to decide if we are in a recession or not.