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Growing number of Americans are leaving full-time jobs for freelance work
CBSN
As Americans continue to quit their jobs at historic rates — an accelerating trend known as the "Great Resignation" — a growing number of full-time workers are breaking out of their 9-to-5 office jobs for something a little more free-range: contract work.
In doing so, many professionals are discovering they are in high demand for their specialized skillsets and can earn high incomes to boot, with some making in the mid-six-figure range, according to a recent article by Wall Street Journal reporter Kathryn Dill.
The ranks of specialized freelancers is expanding, according to a 2021 survey by gig-economy platform Upwork. Among workers with graduate degrees, 51% chose freelancing last year, an increase of 6 percentage points from 2020, according to the survey. The number of skilled remote freelancers in fields such as computer programming and business consulting increased to 53% in 2021 from 50% in 2020.
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Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a high-stakes meeting at this year's Munich Security conference to discuss the Trump administration's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Vance said the U.S. seeks a "durable" peace, while Zelenskyy expressed the desire for extensive discussions to prepare for any end to the conflict.
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Washington — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who hadn't yet gained civil service protection - potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
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It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, a local horse farrier and trainer who also competes in long-distance horse races, was on his usual ride in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — just a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he noticed a freshly dug hole along the trail that piqued his curiosity.