The freelance army: Why many Indians are choosing part-time over full-time
An increasing number of professionals in India are moving from full-time employment and opting for freelance work projects.
- The young workforce is keen on working on smaller projects or working for several companies at once rather than being tied to one firm.
- When KellyOCG, a global workforce solutions provider, came up with a survey in April of how the ‘gig economy’ (a labour market characterised by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs) was thriving in the Asia-Pacific region, it showed that a large percentage (84%) of talent managers hire or use gig workers—this is the highest in the world (the global average stands at 65%).
- As per Truelancer (a platform with two lakh registered freelancers), data, content writing, software development, digital marketing and graphic design are the most lucrative areas.
- Pay parity As per a survey released in January by global digital payments giant PayPal, freelancers in India, on an average, earn about Rs 19 lakh per year.
- It put web and mobile development, web designing, internet research and data entry as the key focus areas for Indian freelancers.