New research from Elance shows Australian businesses prefer to hire local talent

January 24 2014, 11:00 am | BY Ricki Green | No Comments

elancelogo.jpgElance, a leading marketplace for online work, has today released its 2013 Global Online Employment Report revealing a record-breaking year of growth for both Australian businesses and freelancers.

 

As businesses battle ‘headcount freezes’, high labour costs and additional bureaucracy, the report highlights a growing trend for Australian businesses to hire freelancers instead of more permanent staff.

Says Fabio Rosati, CEO of Elance: “With millions of freelancers now working online, businesses have the freedom to connect with hard-to-find talent more quickly than ever before. Our marketplace started as a secret weapon for entrepreneurs and startups, but in 2013 we saw a noticeable shift in the labour market as mid-size and enterprise companies have adopted this hiring movement. Agile businesses of all sizes are realising the strategic benefits of hiring talent on-demand without the aid of a third party agency. This is rapidly transforming the $422 billion global staffing market.”

 

More than 33,000 Australians registered on the Elance site in 2013. Over AU$23 million was spent by Australian businesses via the online work platform with Australian freelancers taking an increasing share of that business.

 

Last year, Australian freelancers won 3463 jobs, an increase of 45 per cent on the previous year and a 273 per cent increase over the past three years. Australian freelancers are more likely to be chosen by Australian businesses, than anywhere else in the world. Australia is the top ‘client location’ for Australian freelancers, followed by the United States and the United Kingdom.

 

Says Kyri Theos, country manager, Australia: “We’re seeing a real hiring revolution in Australia, as more Australian freelancers are being hired by Australian businesses. Our marketplace is helping local businesses to connect with local talent. This is very positive news and shows that Australian freelancers are taking on the global competition and winning.”

 

The Top 10 Skills in Demand in Australia are:

 

1. Graphic Design

2. PHP

3. HTML

4. Adobe Photoshop

5. Adobe Illustrator

6. WordPress

7. Content Writing

8. CSS

9. Article Writing

10. MySQL Administration

 

Report Data Indicates a New Future for Work

Elance workplace trend predictions for 2014 include:

 

  • Australian businesses prefer to hire locally. Australian freelancers are more likely to be chosen by Australian businesses than anywhere else in the world. Australia is the top ‘client location’ for Australian freelancers. Indeed, the data shows that businesses prefer to hire talent from their home country when possible.
  • Freelancers will command double-digit wage increases. Freelancers are enjoying higher earnings as demand increases for specialised talent. In December 2013, the average hourly wage on Elance in Australia rose to $25.80.
  • Freelance design and multimedia professionals are becoming SME saviours. Design and Multimedia continue to be the highest-growth job categories for freelancers representing 87 percent of all new hires last year. More businesses are turning to online work marketplaces to find talent with online video, design and multimedia skills. Other large job categories in Australia are Writing & Translation and IT & Programming.

Globally, over 1 million people joined Elance in 2013 looking for new work and 410,000 new businesses joined to connect with leading freelance talent. In addition, the marketplace experienced a huge acceleration in growth, which translated to a 47% increase in global freelancer earnings year-over-year.

The Elance annual Global Online Employment Report is derived from hiring and payment data and measure the number of new jobs created, the number of people looking for work, and country-level data on hiring and wage growth on Elance.