Freelance jobs grow despite AI, finds new data from Freelancer.com Data from 251,000 jobs posted on Freelancer.com shows high demand for freelance Computer Security, Writing and Business skills
SYDNEY, Australia
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July 18, 2024 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Freelancer.com (ASX: FLN), the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by number of users and jobs posted, today released its quarterly Fast 50 Index for Q2 2024 based on data from 251,000 jobs posted to the platform.
Computer Security (up 27.1% from 868 to 1,103 jobs) emerges as the fastest-growing freelance skill on Freelancer.com, based on job postings across more than 2,000 skill categories from April 1 to June 30, 2024. This trend in cybersecurity skills suggests more small-to-medium businesses are turning to freelancers for cyber security support, further backed by Network Administration (up 9.9%, from 1,229 to 1,351) also placing in the top 25 fastest growing jobs on the platform.
The data also shows no negative impact on generative AI tools on freelance jobs, evident in the growth of Writing, Business Service, and Legal Skills seen in this quarter’s Fast 50 report, all of which were predicted to decrease with the rise in generative AI.
PDF writing (up 26.7%, from 2,533 to 3,210) was the second fastest growing job, followed by third place being Microsoft Word (up 23.9%, from 3,368 to 4,173) projects which are also associated with content writing. Writing job Copy Typing came in at the 16th place, growing 11.6% (from 4,428 to 4,941). Legal jobs, which were expected to have been ‘at threat’ to AI, have also increased (up 12.0% from 1,138 to 1,274), as well as Legal Research (up 10.8% from 917 to 1,016).
In addition to the index, Freelancer.com’s annual AI survey, which surveyed more than 4,100 workers globally, investigated AI impact on income and the initial results are shedding light on earnings. When asked how the introduction of AI tools have impacted earnings, more than half of workers (52.5%) reveal they’re earning either the same or more. One fifth (19.2%) say that they’re earning a lot more since generative AI tools were introduced, while only one sixth (17.7%) admit to earning less.
“AI is creating more jobs than it takes. While many critics continue to speculate which jobs will be made redundant with AI tools, the data shows that freelance jobs which are labeled as the ‘most at risk to AI disruption’ are in fact growing. The preliminary results from our AI survey also dispel the myth that freelancer are earning less since the introduction of generative AI as more three quarters of workers we surveyed are either earning the same or earning more, with a subset taking advantage of AI and earning a lot more .” said Matt Barrie, Chief Executive at Freelancer.com.
Cybersecurity threats are on the rise across all organizations, but are particularly harmful for small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) which have little-to-no security expertise and usually minimal protection. As a result, businesses turned to freelancers for help. In 2Q24, Computer Security jobs ranked as the fastest growing skills (up 27%), indicating there has been an uptick in cyber security threats targeting SMBs. Many of the projects posted throughout the quarter require help with network security, security assessments to identify potential vulnerabilities, and creation of cyber security response play books.
General business services are also increasing on the platform as more employers are hiring freelancers to support their small businesses. A clear indication of this is the popularity of Market Research and Telemarketing jobs coming in as the fourth and fifth fastest growing skills in Q2 2024, up by 21.1% (from 1,525 to 1,859) and 19.4% (from 1,177 to 1,405), respectively. Other business related skills grew in Q2 2024, including Sales (up 15.5% from 3.467 to 4,005), Lead Generation (up 12.2% from 1,802 to 2,021) and Business Plans (up 10.9% from 1,197 to 1,328).
A sudden increase in General business services means that many of the new businesses, which are usually started at the beginning of the year, now require further assistance in helping grow and scale their business.
Fastest Falling Skills for Q2 2024
The main category of jobs that fell in Q2 2024 was eCommerce related jobs, which saw a significant increase in Q1 2024. Shopify Templates, ranked as the fastest falling skill and was down by 13% (from 1,476 to 1,284). CSS, which is commonly used in website development, was also down (11.8% from 9.486 to 8,368). Both WooCommerce (from 1.072 to 952) and Shopify (2,545 to 2,269) also fell in the quarter.
The easing of eCommerce jobs in this quarter was mainly due to seasonality. Typically, entrepreneurs will start a business at the beginning of the year, requiring help to set up their websites or eCommerce platforms. From there, the entrepreneur either pivots to hiring freelancers for other business services, such as sales or research which we’ve seen in Q2 2024 fastest growing jobs, or are equipped with enough to run their business without any further help.
Fastest Growing Overall Job
The most popular online freelancing job by total volume is currently Graphic Design with almost double the amount of projects than the other top skills. Graphic Design is followed by PHP (programming), Photoshop, Website Design and HTML (programming). These are typically the best skills for any new freelancer to focus on initially when starting their freelancing journey.
How Electronic Repairs Are Becoming the Fastest Growing Skill Globally
Electronic Repairs has emerged as one of the fastest-growing job categories on the platform over the past year. In Q2 2024, it ranked 19th among the top 25 fastest-growing jobs, with a 10.7% increase (from 14,945 to 16,548 jobs). However, its most impressive growth is evident in the year-over-year comparison, where Electronic Repairs jobs surged by 162%, from 6,315 in Q2 2023 to 16,548 in Q2 2024.
Electronic Repairs are in-person jobs where freelancers are deployed across select countries and cities to fix laptops, printers and computer hardware as part of the Freelancer Global Fleet Program.
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Freelancer.com Fast 50
The Freelancer.com Fast 50 index is the world’s largest forward indicator of trends in online jobs related to industries, technologies, products, and companies. The data is based on 251,000 jobs posted to the Freelancer.com platform between 1st April to 30th June 2024.
Data: Fast 50 Quarterly Index – Q2 2024
2023 Q2 v 2024 Q2
Rank | Skill | Q2 2023 | Q2 2024 | Growth |
1 | Electronics repair | 6315 | 16548 | 162% |
2 | User Interface / IA | 2808 | 4982 | 77.4% |
3 | Legal Research | 623 | 1016 | 63.1% |
4 | SPSS Statistics | 583 | 917 | 57.3% |
5 | Legal | 817 | 1274 | 55.9% |
Fastest Growing Jobs for Q2 2024
Rank | Skill | Q1 2024 | Q2 2024 | Growth |
1 | Computer Security | 868 | 1103 | 27.1% |
2 | 2533 | 3210 | 26.7% | |
3 | Microsoft Word | 3368 | 4173 | 23.9% |
4 | Market Research | 1535 | 1859 | 21.1% |
5 | Telemarketing | 1177 | 1405 | 19.4% |
6 | Civil Engineering | 1032 | 1204 | 16.7% |
7 | Sales | 3467 | 4005 | 15.5% |
8 | Local Job | 1129 | 1302 | 15.3% |
9 | Business Analysis | 2795 | 3197 | 14.4% |
10 | Statistical Analysis | 1573 | 1774 | 12.8% |
11 | Figma | 898 | 1009 | 12.4% |
12 | Laravel (PHP) | 2317 | 2603 | 12.3% |
13 | Lead Generation | 1802 | 2021 | 12.2% |
14 | Legal | 1138 | 1274 | 12.0% |
15 | 2277 | 2549 | 12.0% | |
16 | Copy Typing | 4428 | 4941 | 11.6% |
17 | Business Plans | 1197 | 1328 | 10.9% |
18 | Legal Research | 917 | 1016 | 10.8% |
19 | Electronics repair | 14945 | 16548 | 10.7% |
20 | Project Management | 1048 | 1157 | 10.4% |
21 | User Interface Design | 4515 | 4982 | 10.3% |
22 | Customer Support | 926 | 1021 | 10.3% |
23 | Statistics | 1995 | 2199 | 10.2% |
24 | Network Administration | 1229 | 1351 | 9.9% |
25 | Virtual Assistant | 3024 | 3302 | 9.2% |
Fastest Falling Jobs for Q2 2024
Rank | Skill | Q1 2024 | Q2 2024 | Growth |
1 | Shopify Templates | 1476 | 1284 | -13.0% |
2 | CSS | 9486 | 8368 | -11.8% |
3 | WooCommerce | 1072 | 952 | -11.2% |
4 | Shopify | 2545 | 2269 | -10.8% |
5 | Audio Production | 1659 | 1501 | -9.5% |
6 | Solidworks | 1638 | 1487 | -9.2% |
7 | Illustration | 9483 | 8633 | -9.0% |
8 | Adobe InDesign | 1381 | 1262 | -8.6% |
9 | AngularJS | 1246 | 1141 | -8.4% |
10 | JavaScript | 13229 | 12133 | -8.3% |
11 | Creative Writing | 3444 | 3166 | -8.1% |
12 | Product Descriptions | 1253 | 1154 | -7.9% |
13 | SQL | 1372 | 1265 | -7.8% |
14 | Electronics | 2066 | 1908 | -7.7% |
15 | Poster Design | 1135 | 1058 | -6.8% |
16 | WordPress | 13576 | 12666 | -6.7% |
17 | Web Scraping | 3740 | 3496 | -6.5% |
18 | Blog | 1288 | 1204 | -6.5% |
19 | .NET | 1692 | 1586 | -6.3% |
20 | Corporate Identity Design | 4631 | 4370 | -5.6% |
21 | Transcription | 1071 | 1014 | -5.3% |
22 | Illustrator | 26616 | 25271 | -5.1% |
23 | Social Networking | 1245 | 1185 | -4.8% |
24 | Link Building | 5742 | 5483 | -4.5% |
25 | HTML | 30041 | 28860 | -3.9% |
About Freelancer
Twelve-time Webby award-winning Freelancer.com is the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by total number of users and projects posted. More than 74 million registered users have posted over 23.8 million projects and contests to date in over 2,000 areas as diverse as website development, logo design, marketing, copywriting, astrophysics, aerospace engineering and manufacturing. Freelancer owns Escrow.com and Loadshift. Freelancer Limited is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker ASX:FLN and is quoted on OTCQX Best Market under the ticker FLNCF.
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