Employers actively seek out freelance professionals to help fill skill and knowledge gaps, handle ad hoc projects and provide temporary staffing for seasonal business fluctuations.

Many professionals, largely driven by the appeal of flexibility, are meanwhile choosing to become independent workers. In all, freelancers are expected to comprise more than half of the U.S. workforce by 2027. The remote nature of such gigs can be key to enabling worker participation in industries that lack strong local footprints. Martin Chikilian, vice president of talent operations for freelancing marketplace Toptal, observed that many software developers in Córdoba, Argentina, where he lives, work remotely for Silicon Valley and New York City technology firms, for example.