More and more professionals are doing freelance work as opposed to working for a company on a full-time basis with almost one-third of the American workforce being in the freelance industry. Freshbooks have put together a great infographic which breaks down some of the key statistics surrounding the freelance industry.
If you’ve done any freelance work, you’ll know that although it can be satisfying, it’s often hard work. Sure you can set your own hours and work from home as you please, but is it really all it’s cracked up to be? Statistics show that freelancers need to work longer hours to make the same income that they would make while working in a full-time role. Around one-quarter of freelancers wouldn’t know this as they have never actually worked for a company on a full-time basis. These are just general statistics though, as I’m sure there are some freelancers making great money working on a freelance basis.
South Americans statistically work the longest hours averaging 49 hours a week, while us Australians tend to take it easy and only work 37 hour weeks. Websites like freelancer.com and elance.com make it easier for freelancers to find work anywhere in the world. If you’re a Software Designer then you should have a smile on your face as Software designers have the highest average hourly rate among freelancers while Illustrators have the lowest.
One of the biggest problems amongst freelancers is getting paid. I know that I’ve had trouble chasing clients to pay up once the job has been done and I’m not alone. Nearly 90% of freelancers have had to chase up payments from clients at some stage. Even with the many challenges that freelancing entails, a massive 9 out of 10 freelancers are happier since they began freelancing. This just goes to show that money isn’t everything and that the lifestyle and satisfaction that comes with freelance work is usually worth that little bit of extra effort.
Adham Dannaway
Web Designer and Front End Developer with a passion for web design, coding, blogging, WordPress and chewing gum. Check out my web design portfolio and follow me on Twitter and Facebook!
these are interesting figures indeed
Thanks for the great post. As a freelancer, I find this post to be quite interesting.
On a side note, I really love your work. I just had a look on your website and portfolio and really liked what I saw. Keep up the good work.
@Waleed – Yep, there’s definitely some interesting stats about freelancers. Glad you like my site. I just had a look at your blog too, some great posts – keep it up mate! 🙂