Table of contents

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….…4
1.Introduction.............................................................................4
2.Background…………………………………………………………………………….4
2.1Motivation.................................................................................................4
2.2 Literature review......................................................................................5
2.2.1 People………………………………………………………………………………………….5
2.2.2 Platforms……………………………………………………………………………………..5
2.2.3 Earning…………………………………………………………………………………………7

3.ProblemDefinition………………………………………………………………...8
4.Analysis...................................................................................8
4.1 Why become a freelancer.......................................................................8
4.2 Average age of freelancers……………………………………………………….……….10
4.3 How COVID-19 affected freelancing jobs…………………………………………...10
4.4 Freelance jobs growth in the U.S…………………………………………….………..12
4.5 Top freelancing companies in the U.S……………………………………………….13
4.6 Best freelance jobs in 2021……………………………………………………………….14
4.7 Future concerns………………………………………………………………………………..14
4.8 Countries……………………………………………………………….…………………………15
4.9 Freelancing in the Middle East………………………………….……………………..16
4.10 Companies’ workforce of freelancers……………………………………….......17
4.11 Common degrees held by freelancers…………………………………………….18

5.Conclusion and future work..................................................18

6. References list & tools.........................................................20
7. APPENDIX A…………………………………….……………………..………….21
8. APPENDIX B: calculations………….……………………….……………...25
List of figures
Figure 1- number of websites users in millions ...................................................................................... 6
Figure 2- frequency of freelance work.................................................................................................... 7
Figure 3- earning of women vs men ....................................................................................................... 8
Figure 4- why become a freelancer? ...................................................................................................... 9
Figure 5- average age of freelancer ...................................................................................................... 10
Figure 6-paused freelancing jobs during covid ..................................................................................... 11
Figure 7- freelancing jobs that started during covid-19 ....................................................................... 12
Figure 8- freelance growth in the United States ................................................................................... 12
Figure 9 - Companies payment ............................................................................................................. 13
Figure 10 - Freelance jobs ..................................................................................................................... 14
Figure 11 - future concerns ................................................................................................................... 15
Figure 12- top 10 countries in freelancing ............................................................................................ 16
Figure 13- Google’s workforce .............................................................................................................. 17
Figure 14- degrees freelancers hold globally ........................................................................................ 18

List of tables
Table 1 calcutions for figure 1................................................................................................................. 6
Table 2 calculations for figure 8 ............................................................................................................ 13
Table 3 calculations for figure 9 ............................................................................................................ 14
Table 4 calculations for fiure 12............................................................................................................ 16
Abstract
The number of freelancers is growing every day and the dominant
explanation for this trend is to earn profitable revenue. Previous research
has primarily relied on interviews with freelancers and studies about
platforms.
We used data from different articles and books about the reason why
people do freelance, the average age of freelancers, the Covid-19
influence, best freelance jobs, and freelancers’ concerns.
We found out that most freelancers use the freelance.com platform, their
age is between 18 to 22 years old, and the most future concern is an
economic downturn in the next few years, we also found out that the US
is the predominant country in freelancing.

1. Introduction
Online freelancing is a direction of work that many youths –including
graduates and students resort to nowadays. With the increase in the
global population every year and hence the increase in the number of
fresh graduates every year: it has become harder and harder to get a job
in a well-reputation entity with a reasonable salary, in other words; some
companies and entities exploit fresh graduates where they count on the
fact that they will accept any job with high demands, long and exhausting
working hours, and a low pay due to the shrinkage in vacancies.
Therefore, with the evolving of technology youth found it more suitable
to head to freelancing –specifically online freelancing.
In our project, we are focusing on online freelancing because it has taken
over the world in many fields worldwide, we’ll talk more about online
freelancing worldwide, the Middle East, and the United States to be more
specific.

2. Background
• 2.1 Motivation
As we go deeper into the digital age, spending every day working 9
to 5 hours in a company, under the authority of your boss who thinks
traditionally, following a strict schedule, with a specific and fixed
annual salary, also needing the approval from supervisors in every

4
 step of your work; all of these are becoming a thing of the past.
Instead of it, working as a freelancer gives a lot of facilities and
opportunity to get experience in their field, having multiple income
sources, job flexibility is also allowed where you can work when you
want. In addition to that it offers creative freedom without
instructions, having the ability to choose your clients without being
chained to a specific working program, allows you to be your own
boss. Besides highlighting your work and easily advertising your
products, also following up user’s feedback and opinions on different
platforms such as Upwork, freelancer.com, they can work remotely
which is much safer especially in Coronavirus pandemic. Freelancing
also supports a variety of personal circumstances; this allows those
with children, health problems, special needs, or other personal
commitments to comfortably work from home, when other options
are not available.

• 2.2 Literature review

2.2.1 People
The Covid-19 period has affected our lives, especially in business. At
the beginning of March 2020, some people have started freelancing.
Freelancers’ numbers are growing by 41% of the American workforce
in 2020, up to 13% since 2013, at the same time, non-freelancers
increased by rate 2%, 28% of Americans freelance full-time, up by
17% from 2014, 53% of Generation-Z (aging from 18 to 22) chooses
to freelance. (6)

2.2.2 Platforms
The number of platforms used by freelancers worldwide has grown
by more than 25% every year. After doing 40 interviews with
freelancers, clients, platform owners, and industry experts, this
paper: In search of meaningful work on digital freelancing platforms;
the case of design professionals shows that most freelancers are
concerned about how operating through the platform, and their
dependence on it, Platforms are degrading both the manifest (i.e.,
monetary) and latent (i.e., non-monetary) significance of freelancers'

5
work, but they are more concerned with the latent element of
meaning. According to the survey results, a small group of
freelancers who are committed to doing meaningful work and can
earn a steady income from the platform is those with strong brands.
The most known/ used freelancing online platforms are Fiverr,
Freelancer.com, and Upwork. Figure (1) illustrates the number of
users of these 3 platforms worldwide up until this year; as the
number of freelancers working in Fiverr is 17 million, while there are
31 million users on Freelance.com and 7 million on Upwork platform.
(6)

Figure 1- number of websites users in millions

MEAN MODE MEDIAN RANGE VARIANCE

18.33 17,31,7 17 24 145.33

Table 1 calcutions for figure 1

Most gig workers participate on a part-time basis. In 2020, there

were 24.6 million part-time gig workers in the U.S. On average, 60%
worked freelance at least weekly and averaged 11-30 hours a week.
Figure (2) illustrates the frequency of freelancing. (1)

6
 Figure 2- frequency of freelance work

i. 37% of United States freelancers works daily as one third of

them earn their paycheck working freelancing jobs.
ii. 10% of them do freelancing monthly or even less than monthly
as freelancing is not their primary source of income.
iii. 55% of freelancers still hold a regular full-time job on top of
freelancing while 29% said their gig work was one of their
sources of income and 44% of the previous percentage reported
it as their primary income.
2.2.3 Earning
According to another statistical analysis carried out in the US, there
were 59 million freelancers as of 2020. Freelancers contribute $1.2
trillion (about $3,700 per person in the US) (about $3,700 per
person in the US) to the United States economy every year. Also,
36% of the US workforce did freelance work in the past 12 months.
The number of freelancers in the United States has increased by
almost 12% between 2014 and 2021.
Globally, women in traditional jobs earn only 54% of the amount
men make, while this disparity still exists in freelancing, according

7
 to research on freelance platforms that women’s hourly rates
average 74% of men as figure (3) shows.

Figure 3- earning of women vs men

3. Problem definition
The addressed problems are presented in: concerns from people about the
idea of freelancing and lastly how COVID-19 period dramatically changed the
shape of the conventional recruitment process.

4. Analysis
4.1 Why become a freelancer?
People do freelance jobs for many reasons but the top reasons why
people do freelancing is presented in figure (4). (5)

8
 Figure 4- why become a freelancer?

i. Work-life balance
When people were asked why they do freelance, the most common
answer was to try to find the balance and rhythm between life and
work.
ii. Choose when and where to work
People said too that the flexibility in work schedule and the ability to
work from anywhere especially from home was a huge motivator for
them to choose to freelance.
iii. Desire to be their boss
Controlling the load of the work and how they do it was another reason
people chose freelancing.
iv. To be more productive
Time and research have proven that freelancing makes people more
productive.
v. Time saving
Freelancing helps people to save time, so they have more quality time
with family and friends and time to practice their hobbies.
vi. Better income

9
 One of the main reasons people do freelancing is the better income as
many people reported that their income increased after freelancing by
a noticeable range.
vii. Desire to choose the projects
Freelancing gives people the freedom to choose what kind of work and
how much they want to do whether to do one project at a time or
several projects at the same time.

4.2 Average age of freelancers

When freelancers were asked about their age in an online survey in the
United States, it was found that most of them are from generation Z while
the least are baby boomers as shown in figure (5). (1)

Figure 5- average age of freelancer

4.3 How COVID-19 affected freelancing jobs

Some freelancing jobs were affected more than others as they were more
affected by social distancing as transportation, food preparation, and
service as illustrated in figure (6). (See Appendix A for raw data)

10
 Figure 6-paused freelancing jobs during covid

People who paused their freelance jobs were most likely to be the remote
workers which mean people who did freelancing once a month or less, however
88% of them are most likely to proceed to freelance in the future.
On the other hand, people who started in that period were heading to other
career paths like:
Architecture and engineering, computers and mathematics, finance, and
business operations as it is presented in figure (7). (See Appendix A for raw data)

11
 Figure 7- freelancing jobs that started during covid-19

4.4 Freelance growth in the United States

According to a study, freelancing in America makes for over 35% of the

total working population. The number of freelancers in the United States
has increased by almost 12% between 2014 and 2020 as figure (8)
illustrates. (1) (See Appendix A for raw data)

Figure 8- freelance growth in the United States *

12
 Mean Median Mode Range Variance
55.957142857143 56.7 53, 53.7, 55, 6 4.5761905
57.3, 56.7,
57, 59
Table 2 calculations for figure 8

i. 59 million people were doing freelance work in the United States in

2020; that number translates to 36% of the total United States
workforce.
ii. In 2019, the United States was ranked as the largest freelance market
in the World, with a 78% year-on-year revenue growth.
iii. There are over 9,776 Freelancers currently employed in the United
States.
iv. 36% of the American workforce are freelancers.

4.5 Top companies for freelancers in the United States

As shown in figure (9), five companies showing their payment in dollars
per hour.
“SMASHBOX COSMETICS” company offers the highest payment, which is
47.44 dollars per hour, while “MURAD” offers the lowest payment which
is 24.45 dollars per hour.

Figure 9 - Companies payment

13
 MEAN MODE MEDIAN RANGE VARIANCE
35.582 24.45, 29, 35.83 22.99 84.84187
35.83,
41.19,
47.44
Table 3 calculations for figure 9

4.6 Best freelance jobs in 2021

As figure (10) illustrates; that the best freelance job in 2021 according to
the average payment per hour in $ is “Cybersecurity” and the “Web
developer” follows it in ranking. (2) (See Appendix A for raw data)

Figure 10 - Freelance jobs*

4.7 Future Concerns

In 2019, freelancers and non-freelancers reported similar levels of
concern around things like saving for retirement, saving money, accessing
healthcare, etc., but in 2020 non-freelancers are more concerned about
an economic downturn in the next few years, being able to put enough
money into savings, saving for retirement, Access to affordable
healthcare, and High taxation rates (% showing very or somewhat
concerned, among total freelancers and non-freelancers), as detailed in
figure (11). (See Appendix A for raw data)

14
 Figure 11 - future concerns*

4.8 Countries
Online Freelancing activity rates peaks in some countries over others,
here in figure (12) are the top 10 countries: we can see the total number
of registered and active freelancers classified by country, along with the
percentage of active freelancers from the total of registered freelancers.
The number of total freelancers in the United States is 558,965 while in
Egypt is 33,610. on the other hand, the percentage of active freelancers
in the United States is 13.90% while in Egypt is 16.33%. (3)

15
 Series 2: total freelancers series 3: percentage of active freelancers

Figure 12- top 10 countries in freelancing*

Mean Median Mode Range Variance

131.2803 55.489 558.965, 525.355 27148.804
245.342,
162.233,
62.442, 55.449,
55.529, 53.529,
44.534, 41.170,
33.610
Table 4 calculations for figure 12

4.9 Freelancing in the Middle East

Freelancersmare increasing across the Middle East and North Africa
region, also known as the freelance outbreak, is gaining momentum in
the MENA region and is being accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

16
 i. Around 38% of freelance workers in the MENA region are motivated by
extra income.

ii. “Nabbesh”, a site that allows those seeking work to match with those
who need tasks fulfilled, is the largest freelancing company in the
region.

iii. 60% of freelancers on the site come from the UAE. Only 12% are from
Lebanon while Egypt and Jordan each account for 5% each. Saudi Arabia
only contributes 2.5% of the total.

iv. 32% freelancers on “Nabbesh” are women while 50% of users are
between the ages of 25 and 34, 75% are between 18 and 34.

v. Freelancers in “Nabbesh” site are highly educated, with 87% of them

holding a college degree or better. Six in 10 professionals agreed that
the demand for freelancers has increased in the past year, while 88%
of those surveyed plan to do more freelance work in 2021.
4.10 Companies’ usage of freelancing workforce
Figure (13) illustrates Google’s workforce in 2019.

Figure 13- Google’s workforce

17
 Google’s workforce has more freelancers than permanent
employees; as of March 2019, Google’s workforce comprised of
120,000 contractors/freelancers, more than the number of
permanent employees on its payroll, which was around 102,000.
Also, freelancers tend to value skill training over formal education,
with 93% claiming skill training was useful while only 79% said
their college education was still useful for what they’re currently
doing.
4.11 Common degrees freelancers hold

Figure 14- degrees freelancers hold globally

Freelancers tend to value skill training over formal education, with 93%
claiming skill training was useful, while only 79% said their college
education was still useful for what they’re currently doing.

5. Conclusion and future work

The number of online freelancers worldwide is continuously increasing,
taking a digital turn. They represent a large segment of some companies’
workforce, such as Google where in 2019, 54% of their workforce was
freelancers. Online freelancing is a need for some people like the
physically impaired, remote workers, students who support
themselves...etc. And for others, it’s an additional way of earning and
supporting themselves and their families. In the United States
18
alone, about half the population does online freelancing. Whereas in the
MENA region (including Egypt), its concept hasn’t been very popular over
the past years. But since the COVID-19 crisis, it has become more known
to people.
Frankly, the idea of online freelancing is worth spreading in Egypt. As
unemployment in Egypt has been a major problem for years, in addition,
most of the unemployed population is from youth. According to
“CAPMAS”, the unemployment rate reached its peak in 2013 by a
percentage of 13.2% of the total labor force, since then, that rate kept
decreasing till it reached 7.3% in 2021. This decrease is due to the spread
of technology and the idea of online learning in the past 7 years. However,
7.3% is still a high unemployment rate where it represents 2.115 million
unemployed persons. This rate can go down greatly with the spread of
online freelancing since it’s quite rare that a household doesn’t have at
least one smartphone or laptop. (8)(9)

19
6. References list & tools
1. https://www.upwork.com/documents/freelance-forward-2020

2. https://www.dollarbreak.com/best-freelance-jobs/

3. https://analyticshelp.io/blog/global-internet-freelance-market-

overview-2018/

4. https://www.indeed.com/career/freelancer/salaries

5. https://www.upwork.com/press/releases/53-million-americans-now-

freelance-new-study-finds-2

6. https://ddiy.co/freelance-statistics/

7. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_ylo=2020

&q=statistics+modeling+on+freelancing&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3

DVsbWlwQlDzMJ

8. https://www.capmas.gov.eg/Pages/IndicatorsPage.aspx?Ind_id=1117

9. https://www.statista.com/statistics/273909/seasonally-adjusted-

monthly-unemployment-rate-in-the-us/

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APPENDIX A:

The freelance work that was paused during the lockdown and its percentage:

The freelance work which was paused Percentage

transportation 2%

personal care and wellness service 1%

sales 1%

Food preparation and service 1%

maintenance 1%

Community and social service 1%

Freelancing jobs that started during the lockdown and its percentage:

The jobs that started Percentage

Architecture & engineering 1%

Computers & mathematics 3%

Finance & Business operation 4%

21
People doing freelancing in the United States from 2014 to 2020

Number of people doing freelance work in

year
millions

53
2014

53.7
2015

55
2016

57.3
2017

56.7
2018

57
2019

59
2020

Best freelancing jobs in 2021 and their payments in dollar per hour:

Best Freelance Jobs Average pay per

in 2021 hour in $

Web Developer $30-$180 per hour 3D Modeler $25

Copywriter $50+ Technical Writer $41

22
 PR Manager $70 Consultant $100

SEO Specialist $33 Social Media $15 - $50

Video Editor $30 - $150 Digital Marketer $50-$100

Graphic Designer $27 Data Analysis $30 - $55

Cybersecurity $200 Software Developer $42

Concerns about the future between freelancers and non-freelancers:

An Unpredictable Saving for High Difficulty

economic income retirement taxation finding

downturn in rates work

text few

years

non- 81% 64% 76% 74% 57%

freelancers

freelancers 72% 68% 68% 64% 62%

put enough Access to Being paid a Dept Forgoing

money into affordable fair rate the

savings healthcare purchase of

23
 needed

thing

non- 77% 72% 69% 64% 60%

freelancers

freelancers 70% 65% 67% 61% 60%

24
APPENDIX B: calculations

i. Calculation of mean:

Mean (μ) =∑ni= 1xi/n

ii. Calculation of median of total freelancers in the top ten countries in

freelancing:

p=n/2 median=(xp+xp+1)/2

iii. Calculation of median of number of people doing freelancing in

millions, companies’ payment and number of websites users in

millions:

p= (n+1)/2 median=xp

iv. Calculation of variance:

Variance (σ2) =∑ni = 1(xi−μ)2 /n

v. Calculation of range:

Range= maximum value-minimum value

25