Businesses and Self-Employed Freelancers Go Online to Escape Local Economies
November 14 2012 - 9:00AM
Marketwired
Elance, the leading online employment platform, today revealed that
online hiring and earnings are far outpacing the traditional
employment economy with over 40% growth rates. Elance's quarterly
Global Online Employment Report shows that independent
professionals in hard-hit areas are escaping their local economies
by working online, and that demand for talent in marketing,
writing, security and gaming is expanding around the globe.
"On Elance, your earnings aren't tied to where you are located.
What matters most is what you can do, and how well you do it," said
Fabio Rosati, CEO of Elance. "Skilled professionals everywhere are
going online to find clients and interesting jobs. As Elance's
growth accelerates, we are increasingly confident in our prediction
that 1 in 3 workers will be hired online by 2020."
Q3 Highlights from the Report With nearly
220,000 new job posts (+41%) and earnings of $50M (+42%), Elance
set new records in Q3. The number of businesses hiring and the
number of freelancers working on Elance increased significantly
over the same quarter a year ago, translating into record growth
for the company and increased freelancer optimism.
Professionals Escape Local Economies
Several U.S. cities with high unemployment saw an increase in
online freelance earnings of more than 150% in the past year and
some cities experiencing greater than 10% unemployment, such as
Fresno, CA; Bend, OR; Greensboro, NC; Carson City,
NV and Detroit, MI, saw greater than 500% increases in online
freelance earnings. Several high unemployment states, including
Mississippi (9.2% unemployment); Florida (8.7% unemployment) and Georgia (9.0% unemployment) had large freelance
earnings increases. With the national unemployment rate hovering
around 8%, unemployed professionals in the U.S. are looking online
for flexible work opportunities to earn money.
Marketers Make a Splash The sales and
marketing category was particularly vibrant in Q3; job posts
increased by 40% year-over-year and demand for skills such as
social media marketing (+157%), marketing strategy (+136%) and lead generation
(+136%) were all up significantly in 2012, rivaling IT and
Programming, the top category on Elance. Businesses around the
world today have more channels than ever to connect and engage with
potential customers, which is increasing connectivity and fueling
demand for marketing services online.
Security the Newest Growth Sector Requests
for security-centric experts such as security
engineers (+448%), security analysts (+326%) and web security
managers (+87%) skyrocketed this year on Elance. As businesses
both small and large continue to adopt the cloud for a competitive
advantage in productivity and collaboration, security is
increasingly becoming a must-have for companies seeking peace of
mind.
Niche Writing Skills Emerge The number of
jobs posted within the writing sector grew by 176% over the past
year, and the increase was driven by several emerging skills.
Specialized writing skills such as speech
writing (+474%), script
writing (+371%) and sports writing
(+282%) have seen increases compared to the same quarter last
year on Elance. By working online, freelancers with niche skill
sets can work with a global client base that is looking for expert
talent in these specific fields.
Businesses Get Animated Demand for skills
such as cover design (+303%), game development
(+88%) and game programming (+76%) hit record growth in the
last year on Elance, as businesses seek to convert users to players
and make commerce fun again. Gamification of the enterprise topped
the trend list this year, prompting businesses around the world to
take note of this engagement strategy -- and they're turning to
online resources to find the best talent.
Continued Strong Growth in Europe Some of
Europe's highest-unemployment countries showed significant online
earning increases on Elance over last year. Countries including
Spain (25.8% unemployment); Greece (25.1% unemployment); Portugal (15.7% unemployment) and
Croatia (15.2% unemployment) have each shown unprecedented
earnings growth of 48%, 167%, 101% and 298%, respectively in the
third quarter of 2012 compared to a year ago. The United Kingdom,
one of the highest earning countries on Elance, saw a 40% growth in
earnings over the past year.
About Elance Elance, the world's leading
platform for online employment, helps businesses hire and manage in
the cloud.
For businesses looking to staff-up a team on an hourly or
project basis, Elance offers instant access to talent and the
ability to build and manage entire teams online. For independent
professionals who want to work online, Elance offers access to
qualified clients, a virtual workplace and guaranteed pay for great
work.
The company is privately held and headquartered in Mountain
View, California and Oslo, Norway. For more information, visit
Elance at www.elance.com.
Media Contact: Emily Borders Borders + Gratehouse Phone:
(415) 963-4174 ext. 1 Email: emily(at)bordersgratehouse.com