From accountants to graphic designers, marketing professionals to the “gig economy,” more and more traditional workers in the US are turning to independent contracting to make ends meet, and with the “new normal” of the coronavirus setting in, the trend is only exacerbated.

According to non-profit Freelancers Union, 35 percent of the 57 million working Americans freelanced in 2019. While Americans look for alternative income and side hustles due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus, 2020’s figures are sure to show a substantial increase.

While the number of contractors in the US is greatly inflated by ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft as well as delivery companies like DoorDash and Grubhub, no small number of skilled workers have turned to contracting. According to a new report from online freelance platform Fiverr and Rockbridge Associates, 6 million skilled workers are participating in the gig economy in the top 30 US cities.

Corporate America is also finding that outsourcing work to contractors is an effective way to cut costs. According to the ADP Research Institute, the share of gig work at US businesses has increased a whopping 15 percent since 2010.

“With the expansion and globalization of gig platforms, talented professionals from around the world can offer their services to a much wider audience of potential clients,” Brie Weiler Reynolds of FlexJobs, told CNBC.

“Nowhere is the growth potential in the space greater than for small businesses, who are increasingly turning to freelance marketplaces and online sites to outsource (or crowdsource) common day-to-day tasks for pennies on the dollar,” the outlet states.

According to Harvard Business Review, “today’s gig economy sprung from the last recession, and these gig work platforms — which offered a job to anyone who wanted one — emerged as a lifeline for many facing financial instability.”

“This trend is likely to be even more pronounced as the current crisis is pushing many people to search specifically for non-traditional forms of employment that can be done from home.”

Firms that are themselves struggling will also increase their reliance on subcontracted and gig labor, the publication predicts.

A recent article from Forbes, entitled “Forces Shaping The Future of Work,” takes a similar position. Of the listed factors reshaping the economy, Forbes first lists “Fractional and ephemeral employment is replacing a world that was once characterized by full and permanent employment.” Later, it states “more companies favor hiring contractors, external workers and part-time workers over keeping full-timers on the dole.”

While worker protection laws are lacking for independent contractors and gig workers, they have not been completely left out of federal coronavirus relief programs. Uber even lobbied to have the CARES Act extend Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to its independent contractors.

Harvard Business Review recommends the public learn to stop worrying and love the new gig economy, writing that “instead of hoping in vain for gig employers to reclassify their workers as employees, we should accept that the gig model will only become more entrenched, and as such we should focus on expanding the temporary gains gig workers have seen during the pandemic into a permanent social safety net.”

As the economy continues to settle in the coronavirus era, the ball is in Congress’ court to modernize the law around the modern forces reshaping the job market.