Every industry has its own peak season and low season, and for freelancers, it’s no different. The leadup to the winter holiday season can be one of the most rewarding periods for freelancers as many businesses and larger companies typically seek flexible and more affordable workers who can help with end-of-year tasks.
However, the 2020 winter holiday season was expected to be different due to the COVID-19 pandemic that had forced businesses and companies earlier in the year to quickly cut costs and spend less, especially on outsourcing, leaving many freelancers concerned for their job security.
As a result, the question arose: would the pandemic kill the holiday spirit for freelancers this year, or would it be business as usual?
Fortunately, after comparing 2020’s holiday season to 2019’s, Payoneer data reveals that global freelancers actually enjoyed a 54% year-over-year increase in revenue, proving that freelancing is indeed the future of work and no pandemic can damper the thriving industry.
This said, let’s dive deeper into some of the more prominent freelancer markets to see how they fared over the last couple of months.
Ranked #1 for the fastest growing freelance country in the world, Filipino freelancers who offer their services globally also saw steady growth with over 100% increase in year-over-year freelance revenue. As the pandemic resulted in many companies making large budget cuts earlier in the year, it seems that over the busy holiday season, a growing number of businesses and companies took advantage of the wide variety of high quality yet cheaper services that the Filipino freelancing community offers.
In Pakistan, freelancers saw an 86% year-over-year spike in revenue, compared to 57% back in 2019, proving that the country’s freelance economy is expanding rapidly and that Western countries still seek the expertise of Pakistani professionals, even during a challenging and busy season.
As mentioned in our report from earlier last year, Freelancing in 2020: An Abundance of Opportunities, Pakistan’s freelance economy was able to bounce back widely due to government intervention such as the development of free online courses that offered people a new way to enhance their professional skills, specifically the most in-demand skills. It looks like the training courses offered by the local government came in handy once the holiday season approached, offering the global freelance workforce more opportunities to work with Pakistani talent.
Freelancers based in the UK also came in strong this past holiday season with an 83% increase in freelance revenue, far stronger than even the 43% year-over-year increase seen back in 2019. This jump could all be thanks to the surge of UK workers who went freelance in recent years, gravitating towards the flexible lifestyle that freelancing offers.
Earlier in 2020, Bangladeshi freelancers, along with many other emerging freelance markets, were hit hard by the global pandemic. Indeed, back in May 2020, the Bangladesh Freelancers Development Society reported that a whopping 80% of freelancers were out of work.
However, the 2020 holiday season showed good signs of recovery as freelancers saw a 64% year-over-year increase in freelance revenue, proving that demand for more affordable and flexible remote talent was still alive and kicking.
However, the holiday season was not so jolly for some freelancers. Serbia, an emerging freelance market known for its abundance in high quality software engineers, experienced a slight drop in demand this past holiday season. The festive period saw a 4% drop in year-over-year freelance revenue compared to a 14% increase back in 2019.
Businesses in Western Europe, like The Netherlands, and larger companies in the U.S. who experienced multiple lockdowns and who choose Serbia as a go-to destination for outsourcing, seem to have decided to cut back on remote talent, specifically during the holiday season.
After a bumpy year for freelancers, and while harsh lockdowns were put into place once again during the winter holiday period, Payoneer’s data indicates that in most markets, the freelance industry is still going strong and continues to show strong signs for even stronger growth. Indeed, our findings show that even during the busy holiday season, freelancers worldwide were still very much in demand and the global trend of outsourcing remote talent continues to grow.
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