News

September 28, 2012

The future looks bright for freelances as earnings rise

In the midst of economic gloom, there's good news for the growing number of freelance professionals, especially those that work online. According to a new global survey of more than 3,000 independent professionals, 57% of freelances say their income has risen in 2012 and 67% predict further increases in 2013.

And the research, conducted by the online employment platform Elance, shows that the income hikes are significant, with freelances seeing their income go up on average by 47% this year. In addition, the average freelance professional expects to earn 43% more in 2013.

"In just a few short years, freelancing has gone from a last resort option to a lucrative and fulfilling career," said Fabio Rosati, president and CEO of Elance. "As a 'business of one', your potential is no longer constrained by where you live or the corporate hierarchy — the survey results clearly show that online work opportunities are enormous."

The survey shows that the highest growth jobs for freelances in 2013 in the UK are: web programming, mobile apps, content writing, online marketing and web design.

Freelance workers are also more satisfied than employees with 70% of independent professionals saying they are happier and 79% revealing that they are more productive working as a freelancer than as a full-time employee.

Data from the Elance platform backs up these findings. In the UK, contractor earnings are up 64% in the first eight months of 2012 compared to the same time last year. This is compared to a European average of 56%.

"The UK is at the core of the European online employment trend and earnings by British contractors are the sixth highest globally," said Kjetil Olsen, European VP at Elance. "Across the globe, the UK is renowned for its creative talent pool and we've seen a vast increase in demand from international companies wanting to work with the UK's creative freelances."