BALDWIN: U.S. economy adding more jobs last month, even though unemployment rate went up. So some workers are depending on themselves for the paycheck. Tom Foreman with this week's "American Journey."</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When this small tech company began out in Kansas, one of the founders, Dan Carol, knew he needed virtually no permanent staff, just talented temporary workers hired when needed and ready to embrace a new professional mantra.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess the idea that the job you create for yourself is the most stable job you could have.</s>FOREMAN: He's not alone. One business study estimates there are already more than 17 million Americans who no longer work for companies, but sell their skills day by day. That number could jump to 23 million in the next few years.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, freelancing is happening everywhere.</s>FOREMAN: At the Freelancer Union in New York, the founder, Sara Horowitz, knows all about it.</s>SARA HOROWITZ, FOUNDER, FREELANCERS UNION: It is really a phenomenon where people are hard working, and they're just putting together a bunch of projects and they work in fields ranging from being a doctor to a programmer to being a nanny.</s>FOREMAN: Not much like a traditional union, her group helps its members take on all the tasks that employers used to manage, networking for the next job, marketing skills, and the toughest part, managing health care. By combining their purchasing power, she says group members get insurance for 40 percent less than it would cost them individually. And for all the headaches --</s>HOROWITZ: Because they don't work that 9 to 5, they can be home when their kids get home from school. They can still do the things they love, the projects that many of us say, well, we'll do that when we retire.</s>FOREMAN: And she suspects many freelancers, despite some economic jitters, are feeling more free because they left the everyday office behind. Tom Foreman, CNN, Kansas City.
Americans Strike Out on Their Own