Creative freelancers out of work + underpaid – new research reveals realities of living as a freelancer in Australia’s creative industries

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Pip-Jamieson-The-Loop.jpgNewly published research has cast a light on the difficult working life faced by the freelance workers who power Australia’s creative industries.

 

The major survey of 1,127 creative-sector freelancers from across the country was conducted for creative industries networking community, The Loop. It revealed that freelancers regularly face long stretches without a job, sometime aren’t paid for the work they do, take lesser roles just to keep earning and seldom land a permanent job out of a freelance contract.

 

The research found that on average, full-time freelancers are only in work for eight months of the year. When between contracts, they typically spend more than five weeks (5.2) actively looking for work before finding any. Only 20% of full-time freelancers reported not having any periods without work in the last twelve months. 56% said they have taken on more junior freelancing roles just to get work. When freelancers are working, they’re juggling more than two freelance jobs simultaneously, on average.

Almost all freelancers (97%) said they’ve worked more hours on a project than they had costed for and alarmingly, almost half, at 46%, reported having not been paid in full for their freelance work at some time.

 

Freelancing is not the gateway to permanent employment many would expect. Three quarters (76%) said that a freelance contract rarely or never turns into a permanent role. And it isn’t a lack of quality tertiary education that is the problem. More than 70% of freelancers (72%) are university-degree qualified.

 

Yet, despite the instability and lack of long-term opportunity exposed by The Loop’s survey, the results also highlighted positive sentiments amongst freelancers working in Australia’s creative industries. More than two-thirds (69%) say they feel valued as part of the team by their freelance employers and 60% agree they are happier working this way than in permanent work.

 

Says Pip Jamieson, co-founder of The Loop: “These results show that working as a freelancer in the creative sector is often a far cry from the ideal scenario of high incomes, freedom and endless variety that many in the industry perceive it to be. Freelancers provide a flexible labour force that is a key pillar of most creative sector agency or consultancy business models. But freelance workers, who play a vital role in the growth and success of the creative industries in Australia, often find it fairly challenging to make a proper living this way.”

 

Jamieson added that the emergence of crowd sourcing and free pitching sites are heavily contributing to the problems, not just for workers, but for businesses that hire freelancers or outsource creative work too.

Says Jamieson: “These types of platforms exploit creatives, devalue their work and create an environment that encourages fast turn-around at the expense of the quality of work. Getting sub-standard creative from these channels only costs businesses more money in the long term.”

 

The Loop conducted the broad survey of Australian freelance workers in the creative industries, as part of the development of their new freelance job service, Freelance Pro. The free feature on www.theloop.com.au allows companies to find high-quality freelancers by referral and recommendations from trusted contacts, and connects freelancers to more and better job opportunities. Freelance Pro is also helping to standardise the value of freelance work at all levels through fair, salary survey sourced rate advice. And the service provides freelancers with a real-time calendar so companies can search for talent by availability.

 

Says Bane Hunter, The Loop’s global CEO: “The Loop is the leading professional networking platform for the creative sector with 65% of all Australian creatives now active members of the site. Our vision has always been to better connect creatives with commercial opportunities. Our highly participatory community means we’re uniquely placed to innovate and develop solutions that help service the needs of that community. Freelance Pro is not about getting cheap or free creative services. It will help to build an industry that is based on meritocracy by better aligning freelance creative service providers with the businesses that need their services most.”

 

Summary of key research findings:

– Nearly all (97%) freelancers have worked more hours on a project than they had costed for

– Nearly half (46%) of freelancers have not been paid in full by an employer for their freelance work at one point in time

– For the average freelancer, this occurs 11.5% of the time

– Nearly all (97%) freelancers have worked more hours on a project than they had costed for

– More than half (56%) agree they have taken on more junior freelancing roles just to get work

– The average freelancer estimates that for 45% (or 5 months) of the last 12 months they have had freelance work

– This is higher amongst those who freelance full-time (68% or 8 months)

– Amongst those who freelance full-time, in the last 12 months 1 in 5 (20%) have not been without freelance work

– The average period in the last 12 months that elapsed between contracts for full-time freelancers was 5.2 weeks

– More than a quarter (76%) of freelancers have rarely or never experienced a freelance job turn into a full-time role.

– When freelancing, the average freelancer will be working on 2.2 projects at any one time

– More than 7 in 10 (72%) freelancers have completed university level education

– Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) freelancers agree that as a freelancer they feel they are a valued member of their client’s team

– 6 in 10 (60%) freelancers agree that they are happier freelancing than in full-time employment

 

*Longergan Research conducted a survey of 1,127 subscribers of www.theloop.com.au, from all Australian states and territories, in January 2013.