Comparing Freelance Economies: India and The World

January 25, 2016 by Jessee R

Freelance is growing rapidly all across the world. At Truelancer, we are seeing a surge in Indian freelance activity as more and more Indian freelancers interact with global clients and establish successful freelance careers.

At this point it will be very interesting to compare freelance economies namely India and the world to see where do we stand and what should we do to make our freelance market more substantial.

The unprecedented rise in Asian Pacific Freelancing has been clearly due to the abundant opportunities for work which have opened up as these Asian nations have opened up and relaxed their economies to a certain extent. The recent economic surge in India and the quality of work which our freelancers generate has led to the high demand of Asian-pacific freelancing as a whole. This is not just pillow talk but the information is based both on transactions and activity. This is evident in the economy too as freelance contributions to the GDP are reaching substantial amounts each day.

This gives us an opportunity to know exactly how and where we stand when it comes to the quality and extent of our freelancing and also estimate the future course on which we are. For this we need to compare our current statistics with larger and broader areas like we did with Asia in the previous post.

Previously in this series we looked at comparing freelance economies of America and India and that of India and Singapore and derived very interesting conclusions. In this post we compare the freelance statistics of World and India.

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Why compare a nation to a whole world?

This is because when we compare the numbers for a larger base we get the contribution we are making. This is kind of estimating our market share. We can know where we stand exactly and what needs to be done to being more client traffic and thus more revenue our way. This is important as freelance revenue is an important contributor to Global and National economies.

Now we are comparing freelance economies of India and the Singapore

What is the extent of Freelancing?

It is very difficult to estimate the total number of freelancers in the world. As far as the rough estimates go base on the extent in major industrialised countries and developing nations there are well over 300 million freelancers globally. Compared to the whole world the contribution of India is a good 15 million but this can certainly go up with the sudden shift in ideology nowadays.

As far as the share of the workforce is concerned, Indians provide a substantial share at 24%. On the other hand the average rough estimate about the global freelance workforce stands at 15-16 per cent of the total.

This does mean that we have a great deal of open contractors who work from their personal spaces as freelancers and their share is also substantial when revenues are concerned. We will discuss it next.

What are the monetary and other benefits?

As is clear from the infographic below, we do provide fair share of revenue when compared to other nations. Standing strong at 400 billion dollars we provide about 13% of the global freelance revenues. That is certainly not bad.

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The numbers are potentially a lot less which is evident by the fact that we get paid well below the global average of $40 and hour which is why in spite of a higher work volume we still lag behind in generating bigger revenue. This is an issue which needs to be checked. The major step in removing the increased income is removing the intermediaries between outsourcing clients. These outsourcing contractors often milk away the good money and leave freelancers with not so much.

This is one of our main goals at Truelancer, as we try to create a virtual platform where clients can directly connect with freelancers and Vice-Versa.

What is the reason behind doing it?

The future of freelance — Infographic Credits: https://www.roberthalf.com/creativegroup/freelancing-infographic

Most of the reasons for turning to freelance are quite common amongst all countries. It can be seen that the same cycle of development leads to such changes in work ideology. For instance, USA saw its freelance boom towards the end of the 2008 recession as people started to diversify their risks while India has seen a freelance boom after the numerous economic fiascos by the previous government. Thus, the scenarios have been similar and so have been the reasons like:

Multiple channels of income
Extra Income Potential
Networking and Contacts
Self-independence
Increased creativity and work satisfaction
Self-employment opportunities
Increased freedom and work comfort

We see that most of these reasons are self-explanatory. They all although point in the direction that reveals a trademark shift in ideology which workforce’s have seen in the recent times. Empowering oneself with the capabilities of self-independence and self-employment seem to be the idea of the day.

What is the extent of satisfaction?

Although the financial component of the freelance work space is low in the beginning, people seem satisfied with their work.

This number is around 40% in India and about the same in the whole world.

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This satisfaction is not based on finance but on the quality of life and its independence quotient.

Freelancers see the profession as a chance at something great. They see office work as limited and restricted while freelance provides them with an opportunity to build a strong and large work network with global clientele. The future potential of exponential success and better quality of life is what draws most people to freelancing in both countries.

Although, we would like point out that in Asians still focus on money is slightly more than that in the West. This may be because of the developing nature of the countries as people here are inclined towards financial freedom and security.

A final summary

In the end, it is quite conclusive that it will take time for Asian freelancers to earn as much as those from the states. For this, there will have to be trademark changes in strategy and planning. For instance, we as freelancers should aim to remove the intermediaries between us and clients. This way we can generate more income for quality work.

At Truelancer, we see a spike in freelance activity each day which is higher than the previous day. This means that the jump in freelance activity as far as India is concerned is on the rise. Therefore, we realise the opportunity to provide Indian freelancers with a robust platform where there capabilities are utilised in the most optimum manner.

We hope you read our full series on Indian Freelance Economy compared with other major freelance economies. They will help you evaluate your opportunities better and better your freelance careers.

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If you want to try freelancing, feel free to explore our platform.

Jessee R

A passionate Blogger and Digital Marketer