'Gig Economy' Program Coming Soon To College Of Marin

MARIN COUNTY, CA – The College of Marin is launching a new educational opportunity to address changing career opportunities, as more and more workers become freelancers, independent contractors and entrepreneurs, college officials said.

The offering, called the Gig Economy Career Pathway, will launch in spring 2018. The college received a $15,000 grant to launch the program, which is made up of three classes and a mentorship.

Successfully completing the three classes titled entrepreneurship, e-commerce and online business, and self-employment strategies leads to a skills certificate from the college. Though the certificate is stand-alone, it can augment other career certificates, college officials said.

"The goal of this educational offering is to teach students to be their own boss," said Nancy Willet, co-chair of the college's business department. "This Gig Economy Career Pathway is a tremendous addition to the College, both for students who will pursue freelance positions, as well as current professionals who have found themselves working as independent contractors, yet in need of self-employment skills."

College officials said a study by Edelman Berland, a market research and analytics firm, found that 53 million workers or 34 percent of the workforce are freelancers. A separate study by business and financial software firm Intuit estimated 40 percent of the U.S. workforce will be made up of freelancers by 2020.

"While gig economy opportunities abound, our goal is to also help our workforce develop or upgrade their skills to fill in-demand, higher pay positions in the region," said Elizabeth Pratt, dean of Career Education and Workforce Development.

By Bay City News Service; Kristina Houck/Patch contributed to this report.

Image via kulinetto/Pixabay