While Americans may favor flexible schedules and more time offfor child care and vacation, surprisingly few of them are ready toditch the 9-to-5 completely.

A survey conducted by consulting giant Deloitte shows the majority of Americans whohave worked as independent contractors do notwant to repeat the experience of working without an employer orconsistent set of colleagues.

Specifically, the poll of 4,000 employees found that 67 percentof those who worked as contractors say they did not want to returnto that type of work. Just under half of those who worked ascontractors say they weresatisfied with the experience.

Sixty percent of all the employees surveyed say their “stabilitywould suffer” if they switched to independent employment. Forty-twopercent say they would be concerned about a reduction in pay andbenefits.

Overall, about a third of respondents say they would considermoving to contract work in the future. Men were far more likely toindicate an interest in freelancing than women — 42 percentcompared to 27 percent.

The survey comes in the midst of debate over the emergence ofthe “gig economy,” a phenomenon epitomizedby online platforms such as Uber and Airbnb. They are celebrated bysome as allowing workers freedom and flexibility to make a livingand derided by others as a way to deny workers the stability andbenefits of a full-time job.

One recent study suggested that the gig economy really isn’tthat big, and is mostly dominated by Uber.

However, the world of freelancers and independent contractors ismuch larger than the trendy gig economy. One change in recent yearsthat may have made self-employment more attractive has been theAffordable Care Act, which made it easier, particularly for thosewith preexisting conditions, to purchase health insurance.

However, middle-income workers are probably paying far more fortheir ACA plans than they would be paying for an employer-sponsoredplan, a fact that will continue to discourage people from leavingtheir jobs.