Is freelancing just a hot trend or a great way to build a profitable career? What’s the future of freelancing going to be like? Will there be freelancers by 2027? Let’s find out.
One of the biggest questions beginning freelancers have is whether or not freelancing is a good choice for a long-term career. Well, I can go and on about how profitable freelancing is, how everyone will be working from home in the future, or why it’s better than working at Apple.
Instead, I decided to gather some evidence and prove to you that freelancing is a more stable way to work than most other jobs. Here’s proof.
The Current State Of Freelancing
Automattic, Buffer, Edgar, Groove, Ghost, InVision, Hubstaff, Toggl, Doist, Zapier, Toptal, Trello, Basecamp, are among the companies that equip 100% remote teams. (Zapier Blog)
36% of the US workers (57.3 million) are freelancers who work from home. They collectively contribute $1.4 trillion to the economy every year. It’s a 30% increase since 2016. (UpWork/Freelancers Union)
63% of freelancers in the US choose a work-from-home career over traditional jobs. (UpWork/Freelancers Union)
More freelancers believe their career is more stable than a day job by having a diversified portfolio of clients than a job with one employer. (UpWork/Freelancers Union)
61% of freelancers specialize in 2 to 3 talents. (Slash Workers)
77% of freelancers state that they are not more financially stable since ditching their day jobs to go freelance. But 68% say their life has improved since they started freelancing and much happier than before. (Slash Workers)
48% of the female freelancers make less than $25,000 a year while men are 4.5X more likely to earn over $150,000 than women. (Slash Workers)
In 2016, Freelancer.com received a total of 10.6 million job postings from clients with a total of $3 billion in paid transactions. (Freelancer.com Annual Report PDF)
Future Of Freelancing
43% of the U.S. workforce will be freelancers by 2020. (Nasdaq)
Majority of the US workforce will be freelancers by 2027. (UpWork/Freelancers Union)
41% of freelancers plan on freelancing forever as 45% of the freelancers feel more secure about their independent employment. (Slash Workers)
Productivity Boosts
One study shows that working from home improves work performance by 13% and the company also saw a $2,000 increase in annual profit after letting employees work from home. (Stanford Graduate School of Business)
In 2014, Americans spend 1.8 trillion minutes (29.6 billion hours) commuting to work. Remote work can cut commuting times to zero. (Nasdaq)
According to a PGI study, 82% of remote workers reported lower stress levels while 80% of workers reported higher morale. (PGI – Slideshare)
Highest Paid Freelance Jobs
Freelance coders and software developers earn up to $1,000 per hour. (Freelancing Hacks)
Freelance copywriters earn over $250 per hour. (Freelancing Hacks)
Junior software developers earn a base salary of around $119,000 while senior software developers earn around $150,000. (Triplebyte)
Freelance graphic designers earns more than $85 per hour on major freelance sites such as UpWork and PeoplePerHour. (Freelancing Hacks)
Fastest-Growing Skills
Artificial intelligence, Instagram marketing, Machine learning, and Brand strategy were listed as the most demanded skills in 2017. (UpWork)
Robotics, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Instagram marketing, Augmented reality, jQuery development, and HubSpot marketing were among the top 20 fastest growing skills in Q3 2017. (UpWork)
AI and robotics will create more freelance jobs in the future, says Stephane Kasriel, CEO of Upwork. Only issue will be the lack of skills. So, start learning future-proof skills and prepare for many more years of freelancing.
Hi, Roshan,
Is it true that one can’t get started in freelance writing without capital? For someone like me who doesn’t even have $1 in his bank account, I can’t afford to get a website designed, I can’t afford to buy fake reviews to get started on Fiverr. How then can I begin freelance writing?
Hi Nnamdi,
It’s not true. Having money helps you to cover your living expenses while you focus on growing your freelance business, but it’s not necessary.
Avoid Fiverr and follow this guide – https://freelancinghacks.com/complete-guide-getting-started-freelance-writer/
Drop me an email if you need more help.
Roshan.
Hello, Roshan
I’m interested in freelancing over traditional job. I want to be a web programmer freelancer. Which language should I learn for freelance based on demand now as well as in the future :
1.Javascript
2.Python
Please give me some suggestion.
Thanks
It actually depends on the type of development work you want to pursue.
JavaScript is mainly used for building user interfaces and front-end design while Python is best for building web apps. It wouldn’t hurt to learn both.
Thanks for your reply
Very interesting statistics, thank you for sharing it with other freelancers. There is a new survey published by the Payoneer, which they collected on their website. It can be very interesting for you also.
Spotted an inaccuracy in this article: 77% of freelancers state that they are now financially stable since ditching their day jobs to go freelance. (Slash Workers)
Reading the article on Slash Workers right now: it says the opposite.
Hi David, Thanks for pointing that out. A small typo but could’ve made a big difference. Fixed it and improved 🙂
Thank you for putting together this resources. I just shared it on our platform
Thank you for this insightful post. Looking forward to trying this out.
Great resources, I appreciate the effort and time you put to come up with this resources. Definitely sharing this to my audience.
I interested in freelancing over traditional job. I want to be a wabe programmer freelancing. So what is your suggestion for me.
Great article, impressive statistics. Special the US market seems like totalchanged, i wonder how the numbers are in many other markets. I live in the middle east and the culture is not ready here. Alone staying in the country as freelancer without a fulltime job is not easy possible.
I work remotely personally and while i see a lot of people do not like the idea of it, i always advice that they embrace it as much as they can because soon they will not have any choice than to accept. Majority of the big firms in the world have given out numerous opportunities to remote workers and it is not ending anytime soon. I especially love the fact that it gives leverage to the worker to schedule his or her work time depending on what works best for him/her and the flexibility that comes with it. Remote work is the future for sure.
Thank you for sharing these statistics with other freelancers; they’re very interesting. Payoneer has released a new survey, which they collected on their website. It might pique your interest as well.
I prefer freelancing over regular employment. I wish to work as a freelance wabe coder. So, what’s your recommendation for me?