新冠疫情给自由职业者带来商机

新冠疫情，导致许多人被解雇、临时停职或减少工作时间。然而，有一支劳动力队伍在一片颓势中逆势上扬，那就是自由职业者。根据在线自由职业市场Freelancer¹网站的一份新报告，就在全职工作衰减的同时，自由职业劳动力的需求却见涨。

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked² havoc³ on the global jobs market, leaving many unemployed⁴, furloughed or working reduced hours as employers implemented⁵ sweeping⁶ cost-cutting measures.

 

Yet, one workforce⁷ that has weathered the storm better than most is the freelance market. That segment of the workforce has seen a surge in demand — even as full-time⁸ work has collapsed⁹, according to a new report from online freelance market place Freelancer.

 

Freelance job openings increased over 25% during the April to June quarter of 2020 — compared to the first three months of the year, Freelancer’s report found. The quarterly study tracks movements from the top 50 fastest growing and declining jobs on the site’s global marketplace which spans North America, Europe and Asia.

 

The uptick reflects a shift in the post-Covid-19 global jobs landscape, as employers reevaluate budgets and opt¹⁰ for a more flexible workforce. But it also indicates a growing interest among employees to move toward independent work, Freelancer’s CEO Matt Barrie told CNBC.

 

"While Covid-19 has been the trigger of the already upward trending freelancer movement, this exponential growth can also be attributed to the strong demand for individuals to finally start their own freelance enterprise, work on their own terms and supplement their income,” said Barrie.

 

Freelance job postings rose 41% to 605,000 in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, according to the report.

 

Meanwhile, last week the United Nations’ International Labour Organization estimated that the number of working hours lost in the second quarter this year could be the equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs.

 

"I do foresee that this crisis will extend well into 2021, and there will be a permanent step-change in both working from home and the use of freelancers¹¹ by businesses,” Barrie added.

 

The jobs that saw the greatest surge in demand from employers in the second quarter tended to be those directly connected to the pandemic, according to the report.

 

Jobs related to mathematical modeling — including mathematics, Matlab and algorithm projects — saw the greatest increase over the quarter, as they surged 99.6% to 16,501 jobs. Statistics and statistical¹² analysis positions also saw a major uptick, rising 75% to 7,397 jobs.

 

Much of that demand came from health-care institutions, governments, businesses and media organizations, which increasingly require number crunchers to “interpret, analyze¹³ and report” data on cases, hospitalizations, mortality rates, testing, as well as the impact of the pandemic, the report noted¹⁴.

 

Elsewhere, near-global lockdowns sparked demand for home entertainment and online shopping and, consequently, workers with applicable skills. Demand for game designers and game developers surged 68% and 64% respectively in the second quarter, while job postings for e-commerce professionals rose 54.4%.

 

At the other end of the spectrum¹⁵, listings for face-to-face jobs unsurprisingly saw the biggest declines over the period, dropping 35.6%.

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