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Freelance statistics have proven a dramatic shift following the worldwide shakeup brought on by Covid-19.
There are a number of causes for this sudden shift—most of which you’ll perceive as you dive into the freelance statistics beneath—not the least of which is that this:
Hundreds of thousands of individuals misplaced their jobs or have been compelled to earn a living from home in 2020.
By no means earlier than within the historical past of recent work have so many individuals misplaced their job at one time (forcing exploration of options like freelancing). Amongst those who saved their jobs, by no means in trendy historical past has such a work-from-home exodus been so large.
And so, right here we’re. Freelancing statistics are skyrocketing. Distant work is extra widespread than ever earlier than. Work is altering. And the freelance stats beneath will assist you see simply how huge this shift actually is.
We’ll replace these freelancing stats frequently to doc the ever-changing workforce panorama.
Common Freelance Statistics
First, let’s take a look at the large image on the subject of freelance stats. Freelancing is a drive to be reckoned with on this world. Right here’s a glimpse at why:
- There are an estimated 1.2 billion freelancers world wide (almost 1/3 of the whole world workforce).
- 73.3 million Individuals reported having freelanced in 2023—equalling 46.25% of the general American workforce.
- U.S. Freelancers generated a whopping $1.2 trillion in annual earnings in 2020.
- The overwhelming majority of people that attempt freelancing, anticipate to maintain freelancing into the longer term on some degree.
- Expert freelancers report a median $25/hour fee from their purchasers. 32% of freelancers work completely on an hourly foundation.
Freelance Progress Statistics
Not solely is the freelance workforce a powerhouse in its personal proper, nevertheless it’s additionally on an upward trajectory. Freelancing statistics present the freelance workforce is rising quicker than ever earlier than. Have a look:
- It’s estimated that the whole variety of freelancers within the U.S. alone by 2028 will surpass 90 million. (We expect it’ll be increased.)
- 50% of Gen-Z employees take part within the freelance economic system, whereas solely 26% of Child Boomers do.
- 90% of freelancers estimate their earnings will both stay the identical or go up year-over-year.
- Clear again in 2016, already 80% of the present US workforce was prepared or curious about taking up extra freelance work exterior of their day job.
- 71% of freelancers report they consider public perceptions of freelancing as a profession have gotten extra optimistic every year.
Covid-19 Freelance Statistics
In fact, no record of freelancer stats could be full with out diving into how Covid-19 has lately impacted the freelance workforce. Whereas some freelancers have been compelled to take a break in response to the pandemic, Covid appeared to be considerably optimistic for many freelancers:
- An estimated 2+ Million employees have joined the freelance economic system thus far because of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
- Distant work has opened workers’ eyes to freelancing as a viable future profession. 58% of employees who’re new to distant working say they’ll take into account freelancing sooner or later.
- An estimated 10% of freelancers put their freelance work on maintain because of Covid-19. Nonetheless, 88% of these “on maintain” anticipate they’ll return to freelancing when potential.
- Freelancers who began freelancing through the pandemic have reported a optimistic monetary impression and a large 96% of them anticipate to proceed freelancing into the longer term.
- 1/3 of Gen Z freelancers started their freelancing journey through the pandemic. And most plan to proceed freelancing into the longer term.
Freelance Market Statistics
Freelance marketplaces make up an enormous portion of the freelance business because it’s the place many freelancers get their begin and what number of veterans proceed to seek out new purchasers. It’s simple to see why if you overview these stats:
- Upwork options 12 classes and 173+ sub-categories by which you will discover freelance purchasers.
- 59% of freelancers use marketplaces and job boards to seek out new freelance purchasers, beating out referrals and social media amongst others.
- Income generated via main freelance web site Upwork has greater than doubled from 2016 (164 Million) to 2020 (373 Million).
- 91% of freelancers who’ve used freelance job websites to seek out work would advocate them to somebody simply getting began as a freelancer.
Freelance Workday Statistics
A freelancer’s workday is a bit completely different than a typical 9-5 job—largely in a optimistic manner. Right here’s what freelancers world wide must say concerning the time they put in throughout “work hours”:
- 51% of freelancers report working fewer than 40 hours per week, even when they’re “full-time” freelancers.
- 69% of freelancers report having sufficient work to maintain them actively freelancing on a each day or weekly foundation.
- Half of the freelance workforce studies filling their workday with expert labor, offering expert companies to purchasers.
Freelancer-Consumer Statistics
With out purchasers, a freelancer is de facto only a hobbyist. So it is smart that many freelancer statistics deal with the freelancer-client relationship. Listed here are only a few:
- 58% of freelancers report they’ve greater than 5 purchasers at any given time.
- 57% of freelancers say they set their very own charges for purchasers to pay them.
- Freelancers report spending about 25% of their time advertising, prospecting, or looking for new purchasers.
- 47% of freelancers who use freelance marketplaces accomplish that as a result of they consider it’s place to seek out reliable purchasers.
Freelance Life-style Statistics
For a lot of freelancers, they select this different profession due to the impression it should have on their way of life. As reported within the freelance stats beneath, the life-style implications of creating the swap to freelance are largely optimistic:
- 71% of freelancers say they select freelancing primarily for the schedule flexibility it supplies.
- 45% of U.S. freelancers are extremely educated post-graduates with a Grasp’s Diploma or above.
- 54% of freelancers reported their greatest fear is lack of stability. Their second greatest concern was lack of economic safety.
- There are freelancers in virtually all main industries together with high-paying jobs like medical doctors, architects, consultants, legal professionals, and tax professionals.
- 65% of freelancers age 55+ see freelance work as an affordable option to transition into retirement. They’re much less nervous about saving for retirement than full-time workers.
Freelance Satisfaction Statistics
It’s not only a way of life enchancment that’s driving increasingly more individuals to undertake freelancing as a viable profession path. We discovered numerous freelance stats suggesting there are many different optimistic causes for turning to freelancing. Listed here are a few of the greatest:
- 86% of freelancers all around the world report they consider the longer term is vivid and their greatest freelancing days are forward.
- 65% of freelancers who left a typical day job to start out freelancing report they make more cash total than they did working a 9-5 job.
- Of the freelancers who make greater than they did at their desk job, 57% of them reported they blew previous their earlier wage in lower than 6 months.
- 65% of freelancers reported they’re consistently upgrading their expertise whereas solely 45% of full-time workers mentioned the identical.
- 59% of freelancers say they’ve taken half in particular expertise coaching within the final half-year in contrast with solely 36% of their desk-job counterparts.
Freelance Statistics FAQs
Throughout our analysis, we discovered a collection of questions individuals often ask about freelance stats and have achieved our greatest to reply these questions beneath.
What number of kinds of freelance work are there?
Widespread freelancing web site Upwork options 12 main kinds of freelance work with 173 sub-categories. It’s unimaginable to place a precise quantity on what number of various kinds of freelance work there are, nevertheless it’s protected to say there are loads of choices if you wish to begin freelancing.
What number of hours do freelance writers work?
Most freelance writers report working anyplace from 20-30 hours/week. Since most freelance writers set their very own hours, it very a lot is determined by what number of purchasers you’ve gotten, how shortly you kind, and what number of revisions you obtain from a shopper.
What number of articles do freelance writers write?
Some writers have reported writing twenty to 25 700-1000 phrase articles every month. This, in fact, varies wildly relying on the standard, material, or size of your articles.
What number of hours in a contract day?
One report suggests freelancers work a median of 36 hours/week which equates to 7.2 hours per day throughout a 5-day workweek. In fact, freelancers typically set their very own schedules which suggests you may theoretically work as many hours as you select.
What number of hours do freelance programmers work?
Relying on whether or not you’re aiming for development or for way of life, freelance programmers can work anyplace from 20-60 hours in per week.
What number of kinds of freelancers are there?
There are sometimes 3 various kinds of freelancers: expert freelancers, unskilled freelancers, and different freelancers. Expert freelancers supply a selected ability on the market to their purchasers. Unskilled freelancers take part within the gig economic system. Different freelancers promote digital or bodily items to clients.
What number of freelance photographers are there?
There are an estimated 92,700 freelance photographers in the US alone. This quantity comes from roughly 147,300 registered skilled photographers with 63% of them having self-identified as freelancers.
What number of freelance writers are there?
There are roughly 238,000 freelance writers in the UK alone. Discovering out what number of freelance writers there are in the whole world is sort of unimaginable, however with an estimated 1.2 billion freelancers globally, it’s protected to estimate there are probably hundreds of thousands of freelance writers on this planet.
What number of freelance web sites are there?
There are dozens of freelance web sites throughout the net. The most well-liked (with the very best variety of customers) are Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com.
For extra choices learn this.
What number of freelance journalists are there?
Within the UK alone, it’s estimated there are over 50,000 self-identified journalists. However because the function of journalists continues to alter and conventional magazines and newspapers start to decay, it’s arduous to determine what number of freelance journalists there are globally.
Variety of freelance jobs
Between Upwork, Freelancer.com, Fiverr, LinkedIn, Certainly, and extra, there are hundreds of thousands of recent freelance jobs posted on-line each single 12 months. As well as, take into account native freelance jobs posted in newspapers or native job websites. There is no such thing as a scarcity of freelance work.
The variety of freelancers within the U.S.
Current Statista knowledge estimates there are over 73 million freelancers in the US and can surge to over 90 million by 2028.
What freelance jobs are in demand?
A current examine highlighted the highest 100 freelance jobs in demand proper now. The highest ten included .NET Core, TypeScript, Touchdown pages, eBooks, Android, Digital Design, Displays, Sketch, Analysis, and Technical Recruiters.
What number of freelancers are there on Upwork?
There are an estimated 18 Million freelancers on Upwork in quite a lot of completely different industries. This makes Upwork one of many largest freelancing platforms on this planet.
What number of freelancers are on Fiverr?
In 2019, Fiverr reported a contract person base of 830,000 freelancers in 160 international locations. This implies the competitors is way smaller than on Upwork or Freelancer.com.
What number of freelancers are in India?
Finally tally, India had round 15 Million freelancers, second solely to the US.
What number of freelancers are in Pakistan?
Presently, there are over 900,000 freelancers working in Pakistan for world purchasers in quite a lot of industries.
Statistical Sources
Thanks to the various hard-working researchers who’ve run useful, in-depth research amongst freelancers working world wide.
As well as, we acknowledge the anecdotal work of unofficial researchers on Quora and Reddit who collect public data to assist our findings.
Listed here are the sources we used to compile this record of freelancer statistics.
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- https://www.statista.com/statistics/921593/gig-economy-number-of-freelancers-us/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/530909/sources-for-freelancers-to-find-work-us/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/531012/freelancers-by-age-us/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/685468/amount-of-people-freelancing-us/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/531018/education-of-freelancers-us/
- https://www.slideshare.web/upwork/freelancing-in-america-2017/1
- https://assist.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024801733-Job-Classes-and-Descriptions
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/530887/top-ten-reasons-for-freelance-work-us/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/530949/freelancers-income-change-us/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/530989/readiness-of-non-freelance-workers-to-freelance-us/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/1223096/hungary-biggest-worries-of-freelancers/
- https://www.statista.com/chart/10981/freelancers-in-america/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/941807/upwork-revenue-worldwide/
- https://www.slideshare.web/upwork/freelancing-in-america-2017/1
- https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/feedback/5zkowy/what_is_your_income_like_and_how_many_hours_do/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/feedback/bp8wzz/freelance_writers_how_many_articles_do_you_write/
- https://www.quora.com/How-many-hours-do-most-freelance-software-developers-put-in-per-week
- https://studentscholarships.org/careers_salary/154/self_employed/photographers.php
- https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/photographer/job-market/
- https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/16/fiverr-files-to-go-public/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upwork
- https://www.upwork.com/press/releases/the-upwork-100-q3-2019
- https://www.zameen.com/weblog/freelancing-in-pakistan.htm
- Featured picture created by marymarkevich – www.freepik.com
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Written by Preston Lee
Editor at Millo.co
Preston Lee is the founding father of Millo the place he and his group have been serving to freelancers thrive for over a decade. His recommendation has been featured by Entrepreneur, Inc, Forbes, Adobe, and plenty of extra.
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