FreelanceSwitch: Tens of millions of workers remain unemployed around the world. But the freelance segment of the workforce is not only growing, it’s actually thriving.
That’s just one of the many interesting facts I uncovered when I recently surveyed more than 1,200 freelancers in 37 different professions.
8 comments:
The results of this study actually make pretty much sense. With the down turn of the economy, it is harder to find an actual job as an employee, because businesses don't have the finances to hire many with a long term commitment. But as a freelancer, it is easier to get hired for a short term project which is easier for someone to pay per project instead of a constant income for a long period of time. I was sort of surprised with the fact that there are more woman freelancers than men, and that woman make more money than men. Generally, I would have thought the opposite on both accounts. I wonder what gives the women a boost up.
I once had an actor come to my workplace to give a guest lecture, and one of the things she said is that theatre people were arguably among the most prepared to cope with the economic crisis and staggering job-loss rates because we are used to going through periods of bad/no employment. Theatre people, at least those who work on a show-to-show basis and not for a company, are essentially freelancers, and she explained that even before the economic crisis she would have periods of months where she wasn't doing a show, and knew how to cope financially better than someone who was used to working for one company and then got let go. Freelancing seems to have its advantages in this time, and perhaps it's something more people should look into as a viable career option and not just a way to get through until real employment comes back.
Although I agree with Tiffany that the results of this study make a lot of sense, I did at first find them surprising. I think that more companies are outsourcing and hiring freelancers rather than full time staff, which I'm sure helps freelancers a lot. Freelancers can also appeal to a lot of different companies and shift based on what work they can get at the moment. I think that in order to be a freelancer you would have to have an easy going attitude and be able to go with the flow.
Like both Tiffany and Allegra, I find the claims asserted in this article to make a lot of sense. By hiring freelancers and not full time employees, companies are adding jobs and increasing productivity which remaining agile and are able to adjust to the economic issue of the day. They are also much more versatile, allowing their workforce to adapt to the needs of the moment, making the company much more efficient. Efficient companies make more money, more money means more jobs, and more jobs will hopefully fix the economic downturn.
The freelancer is also much more adaptable, reinventing him or herself for every new job. In addition, a freelancer, because they are only given one project at a time, is potentially able to hold several jobs at once.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater staffs their production department with almost all freelancers, with a very small permanent salaried staff. This allows them to remain flexible and keep making money by making sure they only have the staff they need at the moment. From the workers point of view, this is ideal as it allows them to schedule other jobs in between and around the CST schedule. Where if they were simply laid off, they would have to start from the ground up.
I think this is great news for people in theater. I can't speak for everyone but growing up all I heard about was now you can never get a job in theater. Now this study seems to prove those old assumptions wrong. I agree with Becca that people who work freelance are more able to cope with economic crisis, because they have organized their lives around money coming into their bank accounts at varied times. As opposed to an employee who probably has all their bills paid on the same pay schedule every month. If you have that regular of a schedule any small change is going to up set your life. For the freelancer change is a part of life.
A very interesting studio indeed. While I know a variety of freelancers, someone of whom command figures creeping into triple digits on the free market, most seem dissatisfied. There seems like there is a lot of stress for those who don't know what the meat of the paycheck will be in 8 weeks. Or working 14hr days for a month straight. Or not having healthcare. The security of knowing your job is there every day at 9AM seems pretty comforting. If you can make freelancing work, then I'm sure it's great. But when it breaks down, I'm sure it's frightening.
One of their findings that a majority of people working as a freelancer wouldn't consider going back to or starting a "normal" job is something that resonates strongly with me. Although I agree with the others here that it can be stressful having to look for work every 6-8 weeks, the payoff of doing something different every day in your life by far outweighs the periods of hardship. Tasks like sending out resumes and interviewing that are seen by most of the job market as infrequent become commonplace and therefore less stressful for us since we have so much experience. I also agree with everyone here that that in a recession while theatre jobs are even harder to find, we all still have the skills and motivation to seek out jobs due to our frequent attempts even during times of economic prosperity.
This feels like good news to me. I am less and less sure about the prospects of settling down to one job for a long-term commitment, and have some interest in looking at shorter-term gigs. The perception is that this means less money, frequent unemployment, and less of an opportunity to build a reputation, However, this article makes it sound like a less painful prospect, and maybe even points to some distinct advantages.
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