Get All Access for $5/mo

The Sharing Economy Is More than a Buzzword. It's Changing How We Live. One in five adults have worked in the sharing economy, while two in five have used it, according to new report.

By Catherine Clifford

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Shutterstock | Enhanced by Entrepreneur

Uber seems to be in every other headline of tech and business news, but just how pervasive is the sharing economy outside of tech blogs and the minds of business journalists?

Very. Companies such as Uber and Airbnb are fundamentally changing the way we live and work in the U.S., according to a new report out this week.

Forty-five million adults in the U.S., or more than one in five people, have worked in the sharing economy, according to the report developed jointly by Burson-Marsteller, a global strategic communications and public relations firm; The Aspen Institute's Future of Work Initiative; and TIME. The survey, consisting of 3,000 online interviews of American adults, was conducted by research firm Penn Schoen Berland between Nov. 16 and 25.

Twice the number of Americans that have worked in the sharing economy have used services provided by sharing-economy companies. More than 86 million adults in the U.S., or more than two in five people, have used sharing-economy services, according to the report.

The sharing economy, also sometimes called the "on-demand" economy, includes those companies that use technology to identify excess or otherwise underutilized goods or services and matches them with people who are looking for those services. Uber and Airbnb are virtually household names in much of the country, but there are countless other smaller sharing-economy businesses. For example, Postmates is an on-demand delivery service, Taskrabbit is an online marketplace for micro jobs, and car2go is a car-sharing company.

Related: What You Need to Know to Compete With the Surging Sharing Economy

"With nearly a quarter of Americans already working in the On-Demand Economy, and more than a third buying its services, it is clear the sector is playing a major role in the growth and direction of the United States," said Donald A. Baer, the CEO of Burson-Marsteller, in a statement accompanying the release of the report.

Even as the sharing economy is booming, the industry as a whole has some pretty big issues to work out. For example, 72 percent of survey respondents who work in the sharing economy think they should receive more benefits from their employers.

Employee benefits have been a major issue for Uber of late. A lawsuit against Uber claims that drivers for the tech giant are not contract workers, but employees. Contractors are not due benefits, but employees are. If Uber were to have to start providing benefits to all of the drivers on its platform, that would be a game-changing expense that could potentially curtail the explosive growth of the company.

Related: General Motors Partners With Lyft to Develop Network of Self-Driving Cars
Catherine Clifford

Senior Entrepreneurship Writer at CNBC

Catherine Clifford is senior entrepreneurship writer at CNBC. She was formerly a senior writer at Entrepreneur.com, the small business reporter at CNNMoney and an assistant in the New York bureau for CNN. Clifford attended Columbia University where she earned a bachelor's degree. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. You can follow her on Twitter at @CatClifford.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Social Media

How To Start a Youtube Channel: Step-by-Step Guide

YouTube can be a valuable way to grow your audience. If you're ready to create content, read more about starting a business YouTube Channel.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Franchise

The Top 100 Franchises for Less Than $50,000 in 2020

Check out the top franchises that can be started for less than $50,000, ranked based on scores they received in Entrepreneur's 2020 Franchise 500 ranking.

Business News

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says Nuclear Energy 'Is a Wonderful Way Forward' to Keep AI Data Centers Running

AI could use as much electricity as a small country within the next three years.