Sharing economy: 87% of Brits see 'gig economy' taking over from 9-5 working days in 10 years

Trends that came with self-employment possibilities such as Uber and Airbnb have caused UK workers to think the traditional 9-5 working day is something of the past. Only 13% of Brits think that they will be working in a traditional employment situation in 2025, a study by Intuit shows.

Self-employment companies have become increasingly popular with the rise of the sharing economy and have generated a lot of scrutiny because of employee uncertainties. However, one in five UK employees generate up to £1,500 ($2,300) a week in income from the sharing economy, some in addition to full-time employment.

A total of five million UK workers are already in self-employment because of the sharing economy, while 3% of Brits earn up to £5,000 per week by exploiting opportunities coming from the "gig economy" – working individual "gigs" rather than full-time jobs.

Rich Preece, Europe vice president and managing director of Intuit, said: "We knew that the sharing economy was taking hold, but that fact that 6% of us are already using these services to make money is pretty amazing."

Especially by using apps and websites, individuals are better able to get the most out of opportunities and work flexible hours. Although companies like Uber have been scrutinised because of a significant lack of employees' rights and benefits.

Preece said: "We've always had a fantastic entrepreneurial spirit in the UK, but these platforms are enabling more of us than ever to explore new income streams and dramatically different working habits. There's clearly a very strong demand to work and consume on-demand."

A third of Brits are already using Airbnb and Etsy to slightly increase their weekly income, the study found.