In the last newsletter I got from Elance, there was a link to their online employment report for Q1 2013. There we can see details about various freelance trends – for what skills there’s increased demand, where most clients are from, where most freelancer are based at, etc. Here are a few points worth mentioning.
Freelance trends – the numbers at Elance
Elance clients have published 300,000 new job posts. This is twice more job posts than the last quarter of 2012.
Freelancers on Elance have earned 60,000,000 USD, half of which are as a result of IT & Programming projects. The freelance trend for IT & Programming remains from last years with a small difference – the number of creative projects (40%) now is larger than the number of IT & Programming projects (39%).
110,000 new clients and 290,000 new freelancers have registered at Elance for the first quarter of this year.
4 important must-know things about hiring online workforce on Elance
If the hiring process in a regular office takes average 23 business days, on Elance clients find the best fit for their projects for an average of 3.3 days. This is 7 (SEVEN!) times faster.
The biggest increase in demand is for virtual assistants (+85%), online research (+75%) and customer service (+52%).
The number of freelancers with STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is also increased. Such skills are Windows Azure, Amazon Web Services, iOS and Android.
There’s increased demand for video production and editing (+ 80%) as well as photography (+73%).
Trends of freelance skills in demand
As you can see in the snapshot above, 40% of the job posts on Elance are creative, including writing and editing (+104% in comparison to previous year), infographics (+81%), Video production (+80%), and Photography (+73%).
Next most demanded category is IT & Programming with 39% of the job posts. The highest increase in demand in this category have skills like Widnows Azure (+248%), HTML5 (+72%), Android (+71%), Amazon Web Services (+38%).
The third most demanded category is Marketing with only 10% of the total amount of ob posts available. Highest growth has Twitter (+235%), Social Media Marketing (+77%), Search Engine Marketing (+57%), and Lead Generation (+48%).
And the forth most demanded category of skills is operations with only 7% of all job posts with demanded skills of virtual assistants (+85%), online research (+78%), legal research (+68%), and customer service (+52%).
Check out the complete list of all top skills on Elance in comparison with last year demand.
Top 10 skills in demand on Elance for all time
| Skills in demand | Open jobs at the moment | Average job budget | Average hourly payment | Job growth |
| PHP Jobs | 1017 | $2230 | $21 | +10% |
| Graphic Design Jobs | 595 | $890 | $20 | +9% |
| HTML Jobs | 629 | $1791 | $20 | +15% |
| MySQL Jobs | 489 | $2894 | $22 | +10% |
| CSS Jobs | 447 | $2086 | $21 | +18% |
| Photoshop jobs | 375 | $945 | $19 | +15% |
| WordPress jobs | 333 | $1041 | $19 | +10% |
| Article writing jobs | 360 | $788 | $16 | +6% |
| Content writing jobs | 380 | $875 | $17 | +12% |
| Illustrator jobs | 250 | $800 | $20 | +16% |
If you visit the page with Elance freelance trends on skills in demand, you will be able to see details (like the above mentioned) and to filter all stats based on:
- category (IT & Programming, Multimedia & Design, Writing & Translation, Sales & Marketing, Admin support, etc.)
- alphabetically
- level of demand (highest to lowest),
or
- growth (highest increase of demand through lowest increase of demand to decrease of demand)
Why you should do this? Well, to extract some information relevant specifically to you. For instance, since I am a marketing consultant, it was very interesting to me to find out that top 5 marketing skills in demand are:
| Skills in demand | Open jobs at the moment | Average job budget | Average hourly payment | Job growth |
| Internet marketing jobs | 369 | $2132 | $16 | +12% |
| Lead generation jobs | 260 | $3091 | $15 | +11% |
| Social media marketing jobs | 263 | $2065 | $16 | +7% |
| Advertising jobs | 164 | $2334 | $17 | +15% |
| Sales jobs | 287 | $4455 | $16 | +16% |
And it was even more interesting that in the Marketing category, the skills with highest job growth for the Q1 2013 were:
| Skills in demand | Open jobs at the moment | Average job budget | Average hourly payment | Job growth |
| Mailchimp jobs | 13 | $1235 | $17 | +36% |
| Market research jobs | 75 | $1668 | $16 | +19% |
| Sales jobs | 287 | $4455 | $16 | +16% |
| Advertising jobs | 164 | $2334 | $17 | +15% |
| Direct marketing jobs | 154 | $3806 | $17 | +12% |
In a similar way, you can research your direct competition and the demand there is on the Elance market now. On the page “Elance Talent around the Globe” you can see statistical information about all 2,072,203 registered Elancers. You can filter that data according to:
- preferred category (the default view is “All categories”)
- alphabetically
- job growth
- geographically
Again, being a marketing consultant, I was interested to see where is my competition and for what skills.
I chose the category filter Sales & Marketing and saw that there are only 190,178 registered freelancers on Elance in my category. The most common skills they have to offer are: marketing, social media marketing, sales advertising, and internet marketing. The least competition is for Google services (webmaster tools, adsense, analytics, adwords), as well as search engine marketing.
And if I was interested in where my competition is, top 5 countries for marketing and sales category are US, India, Pakistan, Philippines, and UK.
I urge you to have a look at the Elance reports – free for all.
Hereβs the freelance trends report for Q1 2013 on which I based today’s post.
And here’s the list with all Elance employment reports available. oDesk used to have similar reports but they no longer have.
And if you have note yet registered on Elance, register now!
I recently started bidding on projects there, landed a couple and I think th quality of projects there is better at the moment. Stay tuned for my Elance review (not sure when, but soon!).
I didn’t know Elance produced the study but I find it very interesting considering how many people are moving towards jobs based around technology whether it is web design or being hired as a virtual assistant.
Thanks for stopping by, Mary! True – as another website i use regularly likes to say – “work is no longer a place” π I truly believe working online is the future.
Diana this is great information. It allows freelancers to get a realistic look at the options out there for them, both in terms of opportunity, but also in terms of fees.
Thanks for joining the conversation, Debra! Yes, i agree these kinds of reports open up our eyes in terms of opportunities and competition but i am not so sure about the fees. I mean, yes – they give insights about average rates but i don’t think we should use it to benchmark so much when we price our services… I don’t know about the other industries but in marketing, the above quoted average rates are more or less lower than what i am charging.
Thank you for the clarification. The fees all struck me as incredibly low. I wondered if the market was shifting or if the nature of the jobs online was much smaller.
well, i think the issue with relatively low average fees has to do a lot with the fact that there are people from all over the world working there, and majority of them coming from countries with relatively low standard of life.
See, if a guy from India works for $3 per hour (which can be decent money for his standard, i guess), another guy from let’s say Pakistan – for $5 per hour, a gal from Philippines for $10 and another gal from the US for $30 per hour – the average rate comes down to $12 per hour – how is this for a demonstration π
I’ve never used elance but feel I should take a look. The information you share is very interesting. I have 20 years of experience as a video editor but would never have thought of promoting my services there… It’s not my main focus but could be fun once in a while…
Thanks for stopping by, Valerie! I am happy i helped you sharing this info. And yes, video editing is something we will probably see more demand in coming years. The focus of inbound marketing is definitely shifting toward video marketing for many businesses so the demand for suck skills would, too!
Now that I’ve moved again, I hope to be able to check out much of the material presented in your posts once I am settled in. Elance sounds like a site I need to get familiar with and fast.
Welcome back, Jeri! I am glad you had a smooth moving π
You can find some nice gigs there – more writing than editing though, i think. Let us know how it goes when you are able to check it π
Thank you for the information as I hire many freelance people for the technology portion of my business. It gives me more of an idea what the fees should be. I think I need to send this report to some of the people that are working for me. This page will be bookmarked. Thank you for the post
Thank you for your comment, Arleen! I am glad i could help. However, as i mentioned in another comment earlier, i wouldn’t advice you to take too much at heart the pricing info.
Although these are the average fees according to Elance report, i really believe that they are just that – average. If someone is better than average at what they do, it’s natural that their rates would be higher, too – and vise verse. If someone has poor skills, the fee should reflect that as well by being lower. Hope this helps, too π
Interesting report, Diana. Had never heard of Elance before. Will have to register my profile with them.
Thanks for stopping by, Catarina! Depending on your niche of expertise, Elance can be a great place to meet new clients and find short-term gigs or long-term work relationships. Good luck on the site when you decide to check it out π
I’m new to elance as well. It’s a concept that is very attractive for the increasing number of people looking for location independent work.
Thanks for your comment, Suzanne! Exactly – that’s what i love most about Elance and such. Being in Eastern Europe, there’s no way for me to work with US clients, for example… or should i say there *was* no way. Now, well – let’s just say i have not worked with a local client for years π Good luck with Elance – it can be frustrating in the beginning (getting used to the interface and all) but i hop you will get the hang of it soon and enjoy all its perks and benefits!
That is some pretty amazing growth all around. Not surprising as more and more people are gaining skills in the STEM area. I’m sorry if I missed it above but is there mention that average rate is increasing along with demand?
Hey, Johnny! Thanks for your comment.
It’s a very good question you ask – but i don’t think they at all look at the whole rate thing that way – as there’s no way to compare previous years fees with this year fees unless manually comparing different quarters reports, if available.
Not sure if it is good or a bad thing though – i can only assume that with growing demand, fees grow, too – but again, if you are way better than average, your prices will be, too and there’s not much need to know what’s the average, you’ll still charge what you think your time and skills are worth π
At some point, maybe I’ll check out Elance. At quick glance, it looks like the rates are lower than those I get from local clients.
Hey, Leora! Thanks for stopping by. If you have a good netwotk of local clients who use your services or send you referrals – maybe Elance won’t help you much as there is plenty of competition (especially for a starting Elancer).
However, the above quoted average prices shouldn’t fool you either. As I mentioned in a few comments earlier, i really think these are just the “average” fees per industry, statistically speaking – and when we choose our pricing strategy, the key motivator should be how good we are at what we do, how available we are for new clients, how many offers, we have and so on – not so much the Elance average metric.
On a side note to everyone – the fact that this pricing issue came up so many times throughout the comments, maybe it’s a good idea for me to write some posts on freelance pricing strategies – what do you think?
Diana – this was a very interesting post. I didn’t know Elance had these reports and statistics.
I must say I have never had any luck on Elance, but then again, I also haven’t invested a huge amount of time looking for work on there. Plus I’m not keen on bidding sites or content mills.
I know there are people who seem to be doing well on there, but I think a word of caution – I agree with your comments about rates being lower than average. Elance like all other content mills are a magnet for people/companies wanting to find writers or any other type of freelancer for often ridiculously low pay. Unfortunately there are lots of writers and freelancers out there who are desperate for work and accept these low-paying jobs, thereby perpetuating the cycle and driving rates down.
I’m not saying don’t use it, but when you do use it try and find the better paying gigs. But honestly, for higher rates and better clients, I agree with Diana these are best sourced from your local area or newspapers / magazines, companies, businesses, etc.
Thanks for an interesting post – I found the sheer number of registered users quite mind-boggling. I also didn’t know that the IT & Programming category is so high.
Hey, Deevra!
Thanks for your comment but i must say there are a couple of things in your comment which i don;t agree with – let’s see if i can clarify my initial point π
First of all, i never said clients “are best sourced from your local area or newspapers / magazines, companies, businesses, etc.” – this is valid for US, UK and maybe some other developed countries in the world but not all countries, certainly not mine π It is way better and higher paying for me to work with clients worldwide rather than source them locally.
and the second thing – you say “Elance like all other content mills are a magnet for people/companies wanting to find writers or any other type of freelancer for often ridiculously low pay.” – maybe it’s a language thing but “elance like all other content mills” implies Elance is a content mill – which it isn’t. While there are many bad clients, there are many bad freelancers as well π I can promise you there is plenty of high paying work and good clients on Elance, but it can be hard to get to them with zero track record on the site itself.
With this being said and clarifications made, i agree with your bottom line about watching out and taking up only high paying gigs – this, of course, if the quality and skills are top-notch, right? π
Hi Diana – thanks for clarifying. I was just picking up your response to Leora on ‘if you have a good network of local clients’. Sorry – did not communicate that well! And for me focusing mainly on writing – local magazines, pubs, companies, etc. would pay better than many of these sites. Although I don’t limit my services to only my country and am actually looking for some work from international clients as well.
As for Elance not being a content mill, I mentioned that I am not keen on bidding sites or content mills (Elance being a bidding site) – again, did not communicate that properly! π
Some people sing Elance’s praises, others detest it! Each to their own. If it works for someone, go for it. I haven’t had enough experience with it to make an informed decision on whether I support it or not. But I do know many writers spend hours bidding on jobs, only to find out they are $5 per article jobs! So I’m not sure I want to waste my time. But I hear you, and perhaps I will give it a better shot and see!
On one of the LinkedIn Groups I am in there was a lady who extolled the virtues of Elance – she earns quite well on there, and gave some tips. Her name is Cat LeDevic – if any readers of this post want to read her advice (just scroll down the comments and find her one which is quite long). http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Delusional-Writer-Lets-all-try-4669962.S.260888032?qid=dd1d4d16-96e3-4e20-b43f-2f361bd7a922&trk=group_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egmp_4669962
An on a final note – yes I wholeheartedly agree with your last point – if one’s writing is not top-notch, best not to expect top-notch pay!
Take care! π
Thanks for your comment, Deevra! Thanks for clarification, too – we ARE on the same page – just saying it differently, i guess LOL
thanks for the link, too – i checked that comment in the LI group you referred me to – most of the things in the comment i agree with (i have blogged about them here :D) others – not so much. To be honest, this lady comment struck me as, hm… how is it in English – “magniloquent” may be the right word, forgive me if it’s out of context – ESL π
Anyways, a person who wants to help others don’t share a secret half the day, unless they are selling the secret, of course… but then again, not under the false pretense of “hey, i want to help you, here’s how”. I also checked her out on Elance – she appears to have made only about $2,000 there?! Not much to back her claims… i have made $1,000 with only 2 contracts and without trying hard… I am far away from the statement “I have figured out Elance and all” – just seeing the potential of the site that if you want, probably you can… so having earned twice as much, i really doubt she has so much secrets to tell how to land high paying jobs on Elance specifically π
Hey Diana,
This is just great stuff.
I never thought that PHP and Article writing will have such a huge demand. I am really good with PHP and I have been trying to improve my writing skill. This is something cool and thank you for sharing this report.