Nearly one-third of the U.S. workforce - that's 42 million workers - are considered independent workers and this number is growing rapidly.
- 53 million people in America are freelancers (33 % of working population)
- By 2020, more than 50 % of the American working population is estimated to be freelancers
- In Europe, the number of freelancers increased from under 6.2 million in 2004 to 8.9 million in 2013
- In the UK, the Professional Contractors Group estimates there are already 1.4 million British freelancers working across all sectors.
- Independent workers were the fastest growing segment in the European labor market from 2004-2013
The trends are….
The trends are clear. American or European, the life as a freelancer is increasingly compelling. Being a freelancer have great benefits and freedom. Freelancers love to be their own boss. As a freelancer, you master your own career and are able to plan your own time and schedule. Freelancers decide what kind of work they take and can choose to work with things they love.
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” – Confucius.
According to a study Upwork, skillquo global consulting community and Freelancers Union released in 2016; one in three Americans (42 million) is a freelancer. They predict that in four years time 50% of the whole labor force will be freelancers. We see lot of articles and studies that paint this very depressing image of the millennial job market. But maybe things aren’t as bad as they seem. The decision to start freelancing could be an answer to this whole unemployment problem. Besides freedom there are some other reasons why millennials choose to freelance.
Flexibility, Flexibility is one of the biggest reasons we choose to freelance. We like to decide our own hours and work on our own pace so we can also make time for our personal life. It’s not that we don’t like to work; in fact it’s the opposite. We really see the importance in having a live outside of work. It’s all about a good work-life balance.
Variety As a freelancer you get to choose the projects you’d like to work on. It’s most likely that you fall into a boring routine with a 9-to-5 job. This is not the case when you freelance since you have total control over the jobs you take. Getting paid for something that you enjoy is probably the most rewarding part for most freelancers.
Using Multiple skillsVariety is also important when it comes to our skills. With the Internet making the world a lot smaller, competition is growing. It’s a must to have more that just one skill; the same goes with our interests. Being a freelancer allows you to pick and choose your interest field and which skill to use.
Learning new things In the beginning it might be difficult to fiend clients who want to work with a newbie. But when your client list starts to grow, the more you’ll learn. If you’re the kind of person who can catch on fast and is open to new things; the possibilities are endless.
Job Security This may sound weird since freelancing doesn’t seem very secure. But when you think about it a 9-to-5 job isn’t either; you can still get laid off only with a month notice. Of course your client can decide to end the collaboration but the consequences are a lot less catastrophic. Also there are organizations like Freelancers Union, who are starting to offer freelancers benefits such as life, health and dental insurance.
You can work from anywhere Either it’s a hipster coffee joint, your bed or from the other side of the world; as long as there is Wi-Fi you can work from anywhere. Of course it depends on the job and your profession, but since almost everything happens online chances are you can work from where ever you’d like.
This growth actually makes freelancers the fastest growing segment in the entire labor market. Also, since 2008, the number of freelancers has grown within every single professional work sector. And grown significantly more than the total number of employed within these sectors.
- Overall, employment rates have gone up by 3 % since the end of the recession in 2008. But the number of independent professionals has increased by 17 %.
This speaks of a shift in the labor market. A shift that provides companies with great opportunities to scale their business. Not, at least, opportunities to tap into the world of talented and skilled workers across the globe.
There is no newer statistics about the European group of freelancers. Yet, new investigations in the United Kingdom reveals interesting expectations among British HR professionals. Around 50 % expect independent workers to make up at least 20 % of the workforce, in the company they work for in 2016.
Phew! This was a lot of facts about freelancers, independent professionals, flexible workers or whatever we call them.
These facts all points towards one trend: an increase in the number of freelancers and the need for them. We also know that the freelancing business is expected to explode in America. Based on this, it seems safe to conclude that the freelancing business in Europe is only likely to have grown from 2013 to 2016.
The pattern is therefore clear – Freelancing is spreading across Europe, UK, and other part of the world and will most likely only continue to do so.
But why do full-time employees go freelance and why do companies hire freelancers?
The short answer to that question is that people like to work freelance. Moreover, that companies increasingly realize that they need flexible workers.
Of course, it is though not that simple at all. Firstly, several external factors have contributed to the rise of freelancers such as:
- Technological developments (Connecting freelancers and companies)
- Globalization (Bringing the world closer together – Limiting cross-border barriers)
- Explosive growth in emerging markets (Making it possible for firms to tap into the great level of talent spread across the globe).
The external factors have been important because they have enabled freelancers to thrive. This has also given companies easy access to the flexible workforce.
However, it is, of course, freelancers who have created a supply of flexible workers. And companies that have created a demand for independent workers.
So, what have we learned?
The freelancing business is expanding all over the world. There is an increasing number of freelancers, an increasing demand for flexible workers and nothing suggests that this trend will stop.