Same as the Old Boss.

We've heard a lot about the rise of a "free-agent nation" in today's fast-paced, tech-driven economy: Fans find it liberating, and foes fret about the disappearance of stable, full-time jobs. But a new study by the industry-funded Employment Policy Foundation finds that the more things change, the more they stay the same. In 1955, 75 percent of employed Americans worked a traditional full-time job, 10 percent worked part time, and 15 percent worked for themselves. In 2000, 75 percent of Americans still paid their bills with wages from a traditional full-time job.

Some things have changed. Today's free agents are more visible. "In the 1950s and 1960s, there were a lot of merchants, farmers, and tradespeople among the self-employed," says Ron Bird, chief economist at EPF. "The nature of the self-employed is now more professional and consultant oriented." And since the size of the labor market has more than doubled since 1955, there are more free agents, even if their proportion of the work force is holding steady. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Says EPF President Edward E. Potter, "From every perspective--schedule, job arrangement, or expected tenure--it is clear that the American labor market is providing the jobs that people want, that fit their career needs, and that accommodate their lifestyle."