60 Million People in the U.S. Are Freelancing: Is It the Future of Labour Market?

In the modern world with an incredibly high level of technological development more and more people use tech benefits in building their careers. Instead of daily commuting to and from work, they choose to freelance. Some are quite skeptical about such a way of earning money and believe that freelancing is more about something you do when you can not get a real job. However, they are wrong, and we are going to prove it.

Freelancing is a fast and affordable way to start earning an income from home. Freelancers can serve every demand that a business venture might have. Besides, they are supposed to be at the same time the owner, director, and the financial manager. They bring their specialized skills in social media marketing, copywriting, and publicity. All you need to earn money in this way is a PC, Internet access, and, of course, some skills that you will use to offer your services. The list of perks accompanying freelancing is endless: an ability to work from any part of the world, flexible working hours, excellent opportunity for advancement, continuous learning through work, and more.

Upwork, a platform for freelancers that connects businesses with talented professionals, has made up a list of the highest-paying freelance jobs that allow making as much income as $90,000 per year or even more. The list is based on the recent research conducted by Upwork together with Freelancers’ Union and an independent research company Edelman Intelligence. Named “Freelancing in America: 2019”, the study shows how freelance fits within the overall U.S. economy, finds out the reasons people choose freelancing, gauges the challenges that freelancers face, and makes some predictions for the future of freelancing.

The concept of freelancing appeared not so long ago, but there are more freelancers than you may think. As it was reported by CNBC, in the U.S. alone nearly 60 million people freelanced in 2019, which is about 35% of the American workforce. About 45 million are part-time freelancers and 15 million freelance full-time. It is notable that every 5th of them earns more than $100,000 per year.

Adam Ozimek, chief economist at Upwork, stated:

“People should look at this list and think a little differently about the freelance economy. There’s too much focus on a narrow corner of the freelance economy and lower-skilled workers. This report shows how diverse this segment of the economy is and how much of it is high-skilled work.”

The experts believe that the upcoming 2020 will be successful for freelancers and open new perspectives to them. The list of top freelance jobs expected to be in high demand next year includes intellectual property attorney, corporate legal counsel, contract drafter, litigator, general counsel, IT specialists, economics and statistics experts, marketing specialists, and more.

Steve King, a partner at California-based research firm Emergent Research, commented:

“High-end professionals are going to have a great year next year, whether they’re freelance or not. The job market is just so tight, and those skills are really hard to find.”

It has been found out that freelancers feel more financially secure than when doing a traditional job. Freelancing is a challenging career but an affordable way to work from home while being the master of one’s own time. Taking into consideration its numerous benefits, it is a safe bet to say that the popularity of this way of making money will increase.