---
title: "Employment status — Work data 2026"
url: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data/employment
year: 2026
chapter: "work"
question: "Employment"
section: "What and where work happens"
licence: "ODbL 1.0 (https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/)"
---

# Employment status

Employment varies notably by country: Germany 73%, France 71%, USA 69%, India 58%. India also has the highest student share at 19%.

Asked as: Which of the following best describes your current employment status? (`Employment`, single select, required, v2026.1)

## Options offered

1. Employed
2. Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed
3. Not employed
4. Student
5. Retired
6. I prefer not to say

## Results

### All Respondents

n = 30,903

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Employed | 20,259 | 65.6% |
| Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed | 4,607 | 14.9% |
| Student | 3,139 | 10.2% |
| Not employed | 1,742 | 5.6% |
| Retired | 607 | 2.0% |
| I prefer not to say | 549 | 1.8% |

### USA

n = 4,755

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Employed | 3,294 | 69.3% |
| Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed | 535 | 11.3% |
| Student | 321 | 6.8% |
| Not employed | 317 | 6.7% |
| Retired | 210 | 4.4% |
| I prefer not to say | 78 | 1.6% |

### Germany

n = 1,983

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Employed | 1,454 | 73.3% |
| Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed | 186 | 9.4% |
| Student | 224 | 11.3% |
| Not employed | 76 | 3.8% |
| Retired | 16 | 0.8% |
| I prefer not to say | 27 | 1.4% |

### India

n = 1,309

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Employed | 753 | 57.5% |
| Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed | 163 | 12.5% |
| Student | 254 | 19.4% |
| Not employed | 107 | 8.2% |
| Retired | 8 | 0.6% |
| I prefer not to say | 24 | 1.8% |

### UK

n = 1,374

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Employed | 983 | 71.5% |
| Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed | 165 | 12.0% |
| Student | 85 | 6.2% |
| Not employed | 69 | 5.0% |
| Retired | 60 | 4.4% |
| I prefer not to say | 12 | 0.9% |

### France

n = 794

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Employed | 565 | 71.2% |
| Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed | 96 | 12.1% |
| Student | 82 | 10.3% |
| Not employed | 28 | 3.5% |
| Retired | 15 | 1.9% |
| I prefer not to say | 8 | 1.0% |

In context: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data.md