Since the COVID-19 pandemic, freelancing and outsourcing have skyrocketed.

Don’t get me wrong. The freelance and outsourcing industry has already grown exponentially before that, but now companies are finding out that employees can be productive at home, and likewise, many people like working from home.

Freelancing and Outsourcing Insights

Freelancers work independently, they make their own hours versus working the traditional 9-to-5.

Businesses are finding out that the best talent isn’t restricted to their zip code.

Enter Freelance Marketplaces

At present, three freelancing sites sit at the top – Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com. There are many others that have branched off of their success, such as the crowdsourced model with DesignCrowd and 99designs. Early on, many freelancers complained of “a race to the bottom” with 3rd world countries undercutting the rates of the rest of the world… but it led to subpar work. Other marketplaces, such as TopTal and ClearVoice, have been successful at rectifying the problem by culling through applicants and only inviting the top talent on their platforms. A model that has been successful, with Toptal developers making more money than your average freelance on Upwork or Fiverr. Thus we’re seeing a lot more companies replicating that model such as Upstack and Coding Ninjas. With the onset of this global pandemic, freelancing is growing at a faster pace than ever… Let’s take a look at the statistics.

Top 15 Freelancing Statistics 2023

Freelancers can work with numerous companies because they are not bound by any contract that they have to work with only one as stated by the other companies. I’ve collected the top 15 freelancing statistics 2021 which I’m going to mention below:

1. Out of the global workforce, 35% is represented by freelancers
2. When asked about trading their freelancing job with the ordinary job, 75% of freelancers refused to trade.
3. 1.4 million Freelancers are residing in the United Kingdom only.
4. 35% of the freelancers are female while 65% are male.
5. By the end of 2020, 48% of the workforce of the United States will consist of freelancers.
6. The contribution of the Freelancers to the GDP of America has been 5% or in terms of economy, they contribute $1 trillion.
7. All the skilled and trained freelancers have an average hourly wage of $28.
8. 60% of the freelancers are of the view that they earned more money in freelancing jobs as compared to their previous jobs.
9. Skilled services consist of the most common freelance work, counting up to 45% of the freelancers providing their services in marketing, programming, etc.
10. The Entertainment Industry consists of 55% of freelancers.
11. Through major freelancing websites, graphic designers are earning $85 per hour.
12. Even with the expansion of the remote work, 75% of the freelancers claim that their earning isn’t wavering
13. In the upcoming years, 52% of the freelancers will consist of the younger generation, from the age 18 to 22.
14. 81% of the freelancers believe that if they get the training in the business fields, they will be able to earn more.
15. If a freelancer wants to be successful in the future, 92% of freelancers believe that they should have the proper training to polish their soft skills.

Outsourcing Insights

On a global scale, outsourcing has become the most crucial part of managing the entire business. However, here’s a little interesting part, freelancing and outsourcing are linked to one other. Outsourcing refers to getting the job done by giving the work to a freelancer. When the job gets done and approved, the outsourcer pays the freelancer. Outsourcing doesn’t require any contract of employment. It has been a buzzword since early 1989. Since the pandemic, many businesses got down and they are still trying to get back on their feet and this is where outsourcing jumps in. That is why I dug a little deeper into outsourcing and found out the outsourcing statistics 2021.

Top 10 Outsourcing Statistics 2023

Outsourcing Statistics 2021 reveals that most organizations are striving to outsource their services more and more as time passes. The most indispensable reason to outsource the essential and even the non-essential businesses is that it helps to save costs and streamline the workflow. Let us now discuss the top 10 outsourcing statistics 2021 which are stated as follows:

1. Annually, the United States of America outsources 300,000 jobs.
2. In 2020, the IT budget increased to 13.6% which was 12.7% in 2019.
3. Compared to smaller businesses, 66% of the larger businesses will outsource this year
4. In 2019, the global market of outsourcing made $92.8 billion.
5. 83% of the IT leaders will outsource to an MSP in 2021
6. 70% of the outsourcing is done due to a reduction in the costs
7. No changes were seen to the outsourcing market due to coronavirus by 58.8%
8. The gig economy is made by 36% of the outsourced workers
9. The outsourcing market will make $397.6 billion by the year 2025
10. To enhance the efficiency of their businesses, 24% of the small businesses are moving towards outsourcing

The labor market has changed dramatically in the last two years, but freelancing has remained constant. We’ve seen indications of this in the last year, with a boom in new business registrations and self-employment hitting a record high.

Ultimately, the percentage of freelancing in 2021 will stay consistent at 36% of the US employment, although the last year has seen a shift in the sort of independent work performed. This year, a decrease in temporary employees was observed but an increase in skilled freelancing.

The fact that freelancing has not expanded overall is attributable to a reduction in temp employment and less freelancing among the least educated. Skilled freelancing, on the other hand, is expanding, and as a result, individuals with the highest education are freelancing more than ever before.

Key Upwork Stats

Upwork and Fiverr are the largest freelance marketplaces on the internet.

• In 2023, Upwork’s current valuation is at $1.4 Billion:

Upwork saw a huge surge when Covid hit, but is down ~13% over the past year, compare this to the popular fund that follows tech, Invesco QQQ is up 26% over the past year. The S&P 500 is tracking about the same at +25%.

• More than 180 companies are represented on Upwork
• More than 30% of Fortune 100 is represented in our client portfolio
• More than $2.3 Billion Earned By Talent in 2020
• More than 10k skills across more than 90 categories on Upwork
• Upwork’s Research Studies indicated that more than 50% of the American workforce is working from home post-pandemic.
• 56% of hiring managers feel that the shift to hiring remote workers has been better than expected.
• 1/3 of hiring managers reported that productivity has increased, representing a larger share that the hiring managers who thought productivity decreased.
• Competition is increasing, with successful companies focused on curating a pool of top talent (eg. Toptal).

Key Motivators For New And Experienced Freelancers

‘Career Ownership’ is a major lure for 68 percent of new freelancers, followed by the option to work remotely for 54 percent. 78 percent of talented remote freelancers mention schedule flexibility,’ 73 percent cite location adaptability, and 73 percent say freelancing helps them to pursue fulfilling work.

Remote Work Availability

Freelancing is and has always been less common than regular employment. While 36 percent of the workforce as a whole freelance, 47 percent of those working remotely do so as well. Furthermore, 31 percent of freelancers work totally remotely, compared to 21 percent of non-freelancers.

Irrespective of why it’s more remote, it’s crucial to realize that freelancing allows professionals to work from anywhere they choose. If freelancers solely wish to work remotely, they can do so depending on the customers they want to engage with and the projects they accept.

Adaptability and Flexibility

Looking at the statistics, we observe that 74 percent of freelancers say it allows them to be more available as a caretaker for their family, and 67 percent say it allows them to handle personal, mental, or physical health concerns. This jumps to 81 percent and 74% for remote skilled freelancers, respectively.

The requirement for flexibility should not be ignored, with 55 percent of freelancers and 59 percent of skilled remote freelancers admitting that they would be unable to work for a regular company due to personal circumstances.

Potential To Earn

44 percent of freelancers earn more than they would for a typical company, 18 percent earn the same, and 38 percent earn less. Given that many people chose freelancing for reasons of flexibility and necessity when compensation is not necessarily anticipated to be higher, the fact that freelancers are more likely to make more is a favorable finding.

Career Ownership and Satisfaction

When polled directly, 63 percent of freelancers say that if given the opportunity, they would choose to freelance over typical employment. Given that many freelancers work on the side, this question might be deceptive, as part-time freelancers may not want to give up their day employment.

This figure jumps to 76% when we focus on full-time competent remote freelancers who do not have a typical day job, confounding their responses to this question. This is consistent with BLS data, which shows that 79 percent of independent contractors prefer working this way, compared to only 9 percent who choose formal employment.

Skills and Jobs That Will Be In-Demand For 2022

IT, analytics, and programming professions are in great demand due to the rapid rate of technological innovation. Based on industry statistics, the categories below are the trendiest careers in 2021.

Some niches are saturated on Upwork. Pursuing an in-demand niche on Upwork can prove to be beneficial.

Machine learning engineers

They create programs that use data to learn and improve their accuracy over time. They assist businesses in automating mundane processes, changing operating models, and increasing efficiency while decreasing expenses.

Automation specialists

They create programs that simplify and automate tasks in order to get results with little human intervention, allowing businesses to save money.

Data analysts

They use statistical analysis and data technology to uncover patterns that, in turn, address issues and enhance data-driven business decision-making.

Mobile application developers

They design, develop, test, and code apps for computers, smartphones, tablets, as well as other mobile devices such as wearable medical equipment.

Virtual reality developers

They develop and test virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) apps that provide a simulated user experience that is comparable to or wholly distinct from reality that can be used for video games and education, such as military, sports, and medical training.

Everything You Need to Know About Fiverr

Fiverr is a freelance marketplace where “sellers” ie. freelancers can post their services to prospective buyers. Think of Fiverr as the Amazon for business services. It rivals Upwork, arguably the biggest freelance marketplace, the mega-company was formed after the merger of Elance and oDesk – the biggest players in the space at the time.

Last week, we featured key Upwork statistics, and today we’ll be going in-depth on Fiverr. A pre-requisite read for this post is our in-depth review of Fiverr, where we discuss pros and cons, talk financials and much more.

This post is intended to be the best resource on Fiverr statistics, so if there’s any statistics that we missed, or you are interested in, please let us know in the comments below and we’ll do the research for you (free of charge, of course).

Fiverr Stock and Financials

At the end of 2021, Fiverr is valuated $4.15 Billion:

Slightly less than Upwork, valuated at $4.27 Billion. Fiverr surged upon IPO, and when Covid Hit, but is down 48% over the last year. Whereas the S&P 500 is at +25%, and the popular benchmark tech fund QQQ is up 26% over the same period.

How Many Buyers Are Active On Fiverr?

An active buyer is defined by Fiverr as a customer who has bought at least one Gig or service from a freelancer on the marketplace within a certain time frame.

In 2020, Fiverr has 3.42 million active buyers from more than 160 countries. This is a 45.53 percent gain over the previous year. In fact, since 2017, the number of purchasers on Fiverr has climbed 1.9x. These are some of the most popular gigs on Fiverr.

What Is Fiverr’s Gross Merchandise Value And Revenue?

Every year Fiverr conducts $699.3 million in transactions. GMV has increased by 74.39 percent in the last year. Since 2018, Fiverr’s GMV has climbed 2.38x, increasing by $405.8 million.

The majority of Fiverr’s revenue comes from transaction and service fees.

In 2020, Fiverr made $189.51 million in sales, a 77 percent increase over the previous year. This is the highest growth in both raw and percentage income since Fiverr began publicly reporting in 2017. Since 2017, the company’s revenue has increased at a CAGR of 53.78 percent.

How Much Can Sellers Earn?

We recently talked about How Much You Can Make On Fiverr, and mentioned that according to a recent Priceonomics survey, 96.3 percent of Fiverr vendors earn less than $500 per month, with the majority (70 percent) earning less than $100. It is believed that only 1% of vendors make $2,000 or more each month. But if you can make it to that top 1%, you can potentially clear $100k+ a year (and even much more). These Fiverr Pros share exactly how they make money on Fiverr, with some reaching $300k+/yr on Fiverr.

How Much Do Buyers Spend?

In 2020, Fiverr buyers spent an average of $205. Over the preceding year, the average yearly spend increased by 20.59 percent. In 2020, buyers who spent more than $500 provided 58 percent of Fiverr’s main marketplace income.

Accounts with a yearly expenditure of $500 or more have grown in importance to Fiverr’s overall income.

How Much Does Fiverr Take?

Fiverr earns money through its primary marketplace (which has a normal service charge of 20%) and from other items (promoted gigs, AND.CO, ClearVoice, and Learn from Fiverr).

Fiverr’s take rate is defined as a revenue proportion of gross merchandise volume. Fiverr has a take rate of 27.1 percent. This is an increase from 24.5 percent in 2017.

How Many Categories Are Present On Fiverr?

Fiverr’s service catalog contains over 500 categories spread over 9 primary sectors. Since 2018, the site has introduced 300 additional categories. When the program first began in 2010, it only had eight categories.

In 2017, the firm launched Fiverr Pro. Fiverr Pro, which sits alongside the main marketplace, has verified talent who often demand more rates than normal merchants. Fiverr Pro includes 76 primary categories divided into 7 verticals.

Where Does Fiverr Get The Most Orders?

Buyers in five countries account for 70% of Fiverr revenue: the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

US purchasers account for more than half (53.14 percent) of Fiverr’s annual income. The total revenue generated by US purchasers is $100.7 million. Fiverr’s US revenue climbed by 73.8 percent in 2020, which is close to the worldwide revenue growth of 77 percent.

In 2020:

• Europe generated 25.5 percent ($48.33 million) of Fiverr’s yearly revenue.
• Fiverr’s revenue from purchasers in the Asia Pacific area was $22.81 million, accounting for 12.04 percent of total revenue.
• Israeli purchasers provided $1.94 million (1.02 percent) of the organization’s yearly revenue.
• Outside of the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Israel, revenue from buyers represents for 8.29 percent of Fiverr’s yearly revenue of $15.71 million.

Fiverr App Downloads

Fiverr provides a single mobile app that is available for both customers and freelancers on Android and iOS. In March 2021, the Fiverr app was downloaded 900,000 times across Google Play and the App Store.

With 600 thousand monthly installs, Android users accounted for the vast bulk of downloads. The Fiverr app has been downloaded over 10 million times on the Google Play Store.

What Is Fiverr’s Net Promoter Score?

Net Promoter Score is a customer index that indicates how likely a person is to refer a service. It is graded on a scale of 100.

Fiverr report a buyer rating of 69 and a seller rating of 79. This is an increase from 61 and 65 in 2019.

When it comes to effective home management, Thumbtack is definitely one of the leaders.

In an era where everything in our lives is all connected, Thumbtack assures us to bring your home the services it needs. Currently, millions of people use this platform to manage their homes. Thumbtack helps people what to do, when to do it, and who are the right people to hire for it.

Though Thumbtack predominantly serves the home services category, they’ve expanded into other areas including: wellness, pets, business, events, lessons, photography and more.

And if you’re wondering what are the statistics, facts, and trends of Thumbtack in 2022, then here they are.

Thumbtack Statistics

Basic Statistics

1. There are currently over 10 million Thumbtack users.
2. The reported Thumbtack valuation is $3.2 billion.
3. There are an estimated 800 employees working with Thumbtack.
4. The number of professionals in Thumbtack is 250,000.
5. Millions of projects are made on Thumbtack every year.
6. The amount of annual revenue of the Thumbtack professionals is over $1 billion.
7. The median annual income of a Thumbtack professional is $61,000.
8. There are 43% of Thumbtack professionals that earn over $50,000 annually.
9. The reported amount Thumbtack has raised in funding is $500 million.

Essential Facts

Thumbtack’s Major Competitors

• Task Rabbit
• Amazon Home Services
• Handy
• Porch
• Pro Referral
• Talk Local
• Gentask

Thumbtack was founded in 2008 by:

• Marco Zappacosta
• Jeremy Tunnell
• Jonathan Swanson
• Sander Daniels

The Most Common Work Categories Customers Search for are:

• House cleaning
• Handyman
• Moving
• Personal training
• Pet care
• Event planning

 

• Thumbtack has an app called Thumbtack for Professionals that is specifically designed for its contractors so that they’ll never miss a customer, wherever they are. From the app, they can facilitate all their business in Thumbtack.
• The common averages paid by the users in Thumbtack are:
  • Photographer: $850
  • Handyman: $50
  • House Cleaner: $160
  • Plumber: $130
  • Pet Sitter: $30
  • Yoga Instructor: $90
  • Massage Therapist: $90
  • Personal Trainer: $60
  • Wedding Coordinator: $1200
  • Bartender: $250
  • Exterminator: $120

• Customers in Thumbtack can rate professionals on a five-star scale. They can also leave reviews that will appear on the company’s page. Below are the four (4) types of reviews:
  • Verified review from Thumbtack users
  • Facebook reviews
  • Google Reviews
  • Unlabeled reviews from other customers

• Thumbtack Guarantee – Thumbtack provides coverage if your project wasn’t finished. It is up to $1,000 and it also has coverage for accidental property damage.

Thumbtack Requirements for Top Pro Status

• Reply to inquiries within four business hours at least 75% of the time
• Maintain a rating of 4.8 based on verified reviews
• Have at least five reviews within the last year
• Complete a background check through a 3rd party provider

Platform Trends

1. A Thumbtack report states that 20% of home service professionals are being forced to bring up their prices due to continuously increasing operating costs.
2. 42% of home pros say they are planning to invest in their business in the first quarter of 2022.
3. 19% of home pros say that they are going to increase prices because of shortages caused by problems in the building material supply chains, and 9% say it’s because of the rising labor costs.
4. Thumbtack is also launching a personalized concierge service to help small home improvement providers get more customer inquiries into confirmed jobs. (Pymnts)
5. A recent survey from Thumbtack found that 40% of homeowners plan on investing more than $5,000 in their homes over the following year. (Newswire)
6. Jobber (a top software provider) has also announced an integration with Thumbtack. With this integration, home service professionals can now:

• • Instantly connect with new customers
  • Book jobs faster
  • Leverage Jobber to easily manage the job from start to finish
  • Maximize efficiency
  • Grow their businesses even more
  • Build stronger relationships with new and existing customers

Home Trends

1. This year, homeowners will prioritize making retreats within their homes such as spa-inspired bathrooms, lighting upgrades, and concealed shower drains. (Zillow)
2. We can also expect more self-cleaning features, smart showerheads, heated flooring, and smart toilets this year. (Phyxter)
3. More homeowners will take on the bathroom renovation project as insufficient lighting (28%) and the absence of natural lighting were both cited as issues. (Thumbtack)
4. Leveling up the kitchen space will also be a trend in 2022 to elaborate kitchen features such as:

• • Islands
  • Countertops
  • Bars

This is a trend because homeowners would like to use the space not just to prepare meals this time, but to also use for working purposes, dining, and even entertaining.

1. All-wood kitchens are also making their comeback this year as young homeowners would like a throwback vibe. Instead of the usual cherry cabinets, white oak is the new favorite. (FlooringInc)
2. The curved kitchen look is also set to trend in 2022. In fact, the term “curved kitchen island ideas” is already trending on Pinterest. It is explained that this type of design can make the homeowners feel cozier. (SouthernLiving)
3. One of the expected trends is also handless cabinets. It is a touch-to-open system and it’s very convenient for homeowners. At the same time, it creates a sleeker and less cluttered look. This is also ideal for smaller kitchens. (Homes&Gardens)
4. There was also an 85% search increase in 2021 on the term “goth kitchen decor” so it’s most likely going to be a trend this year. If you are feeling a little bolder, then go ahead and join the craze by:

• • Painting your cabinets black
  • Installing dark kitchen appliances
  • Putting on goth style designs
  • And more!

5. If you are wondering when you’ll be able to upgrade your light fixtures at home, then this is the year for you. Statement lighting is one of the foreseen trends this year. The top searches are:

• • ‘70s lighting (up 344%)
  • Sculptural or decorative lighting (27%)
  • Vintage lighting (25%)
  • Colorful lighting (22%)

6. The colors green, earthy brown, taupe and blue are one of the trends that are expected as well as nature-inspired colors are definitely a hit this year for homeowners. (Zillow)

Trivia: There is actually a super hue for 2022 called Breezeway. It is deemed to be the color of the year for 2022. It is silvery green and reminiscent of sea glass. This share will absolutely give your interiors a whole new look. (Behr)

Thumbtack is certainly a great place for anybody looking for a local service provider of any kind. It is completely free to use and it is very easy to compare local businesses. To add to that, the platform itself is easy to use too.

But like any other platform, it has its pros and cons too. So here, we listed out everything that you can expect by using Thumbtack.

Pros:

• Pricing – The website’s resources are available for free.
• The Thumbtack Guarantee or the $1,000 money-back guarantee and accidental property damage coverage to fall back on for free is a huge pro!
• Additional Resources – You can browse how-to articles, read commonly-asked questions and utilize the cost estimator to prepare ahead.

Cons:

• Verification – Not all of the reviews are verified since they can be published from sources outside of the platform.
• Cluttered search results – It’s difficult to tell how the search results are ranked, which implies you may encounter some lower-rated businesses high on the list and easily bypass other grade opportunities.

Overall, if you’re searching for a contractor or service provider to hire for your home needs, getting a couple of quotes from Thumbtack is a great place to begin.

What’s the Bottom Line?

The global pandemic has changed the way people, organizations, companies, and various industries used to see remote work. The industry of freelancers and outsources has been growing tremendously but the topic of freelancing and outsourcing is quite interesting and debatable. However, at the moment, both of these markets are successfully running globally.

Sources:

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/jobber-and-thumbtack-partner-to-help-service-professionals-book-more-profitable-jobs-854218151.html

https://www.pymnts.com/news/merchant-innovation/2022/thumbtack-concierge-service-aimed-at-helping-home-improvement-pros/