Freelancer
Freelance (sometimes spelled free-lance or free lance),[1] freelancer, or freelance worker, are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance workers are sometimes represented by a company or a temporary agency that resells freelance labor to clients; others work independently or use professional associations or websites to get work.
While the term
Fields, professions, and industries where freelancing is predominant include:
Freelance practices
Types of work
According to the 2012 Freelance Industry Report compiled primarily about North America freelancing, nearly half of freelancers do writing work, with 18% of freelancers listing writing as a primary skill, 10% editing/copy-editing, and 10% as copy-writing. 20% of freelancers listed their primary skills as design. Next on the list was translating (8%), web development (5.5%), and marketing (4%).[4][5]
In 2018, freelancing was projected to grow to $20–$30 billion in the next 5–7 years in India,[6] and the freelancers in the US will comprise 40% (approx.) of the workforce at the projected growth rate from the same time.[7][needs update]
Compensation
Depending on the industry, freelance work practices vary and have changed over time. In some industries such as consulting, freelancers may require clients to sign written contracts. While in journalism or writing, freelancers may work for free or do work "on spec" to build their reputations or a relationship with a publication. Some freelancers may provide written estimates of work and request deposits from clients.
Payment for freelance work also depends on industry, skills, experience and location. Freelancers may charge by the day, hour, a piece rate, or on a per-project basis. Instead of a flat rate or fee, some freelancers have adopted a
Copyright
The question of ownership of a work's copyright arises when its author produces it on behalf of a client. The matter is governed by copyright law, which varies by country. The default ownership lies with the client in some countries and with the freelancing author in others. The degree to which either moral or economic ownership of a work for hire may be modified contractually varies by country.[8]
Demographics
A 2018 McKinsey study found that up to 162 million people in Europe and the United States engage in some form of independent work. It represents 20-30 percent of the entire working age population.[9]
The total number of freelancers in USA is inexact, as of 2013, the most recent governmental report on independent contractors was published in 2005 by the
In 2013, the Freelancers Union estimated that 1 in 3 workers in the United States was self-employed (approximately 42 million), with more than four million (43%) of those self-employed workers as members of the creative class, a stratum of work specifically associated with freelance industries, such as knowledge workers, technologists, professional writers, artists, entertainers, and media workers.[12]
In 2016, the Freelancers Union estimated that 35% of the workforce in the United States was self-employed (approximately 55 million). This workforce earned an estimated $1 trillion from freelancing in 2016—a significant share of the U.S. economy.[13] In 2017, a study by MBO Partners estimated the total number of self-employed Americans aged 21 and above to be 40.9 million.[14]
The total number of freelancers in UK is also inexact; however, figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the proportion of remote workers rose from 9.2% in 2001 to 10.7% in 2011.[15] It has been estimated, however, that there are approximately 1.7 million freelancers in the UK.[16]
Freelancing is a gendered form of work.[4] The 2012 Freelance Industry Report estimated that more than 71% of freelancers are women between the ages of 30 and 50. Surveys of other specific areas of freelancing have similar trends. Demographic research on Amazon Mechanical Turk revealed that the majority of its North American workers are women.[17] Catherine McKercher's research on journalism as a profession has showcased that while media organizations are still male-dominated, the reverse is true for freelance journalists and editors, whose ranks are mainly women.[18]
Benefits
Freelancers have a variety of reasons for freelancing, the perceived benefits differ by gender, industry, and lifestyle. For instance, the 2012 Freelance Industry Report reported that men and women freelance for different reasons. Female survey respondents indicated that they prefer the scheduling freedom and flexibility that freelancing offers, while male survey respondents indicated they freelance to follow or pursue personal passions.[4] Freelancing also enables people to obtain higher levels of employment in isolated communities.[19] The ability to pick and choose who the freelancer works with is another benefit. The freelancer interviews a potential client and they get to pick whether or not to work with that individual or company.
Freelancing is also taken up by workers who have been laid-off, who cannot find full-time employment,[4] or for those industries such as journalism which are relying increasingly on contingent labor rather than full-time staff.[20] Freelancers also consist of students trying to make ends meet during the semester. In interviews, and on blogs about freelancing, freelancers list choice and flexibility as a benefit.
Drawbacks
Freelancing, like other forms of
Freelancers often earn less than their employed counterparts, although sometimes the opposite is true. While most freelancers have at least ten years of experience prior to working independently,[4] experienced freelancers do not always earn an income equal to that of full-time employment. Feedback from members suggests that web portals such as Freelancer.com tend to attract low-paying clients that, although demanding very high standards, pay ~$10 per hour or less. Low-cost suppliers frequently offer to work at rates as low as $1–$2 per hour. Because most projects require bidding, professionals will not bid because they refuse to work at such rates. This has the effect of reducing the overall quality of the services provided.
According to research conducted in 2005 by the Professional Writers Association of Canada on Canadian journalists and editors, there is a wage gap between staff and freelance journalists. While the typical Canadian full-time freelancer is female, between 35 and 55, holding a college diploma and often a graduate degree, she typically earns about $29,999 Canadian dollars before taxes. Meanwhile, a staff journalist of similar age and experience level working full-time at outlets such as the
Internet and online marketplaces
The
Freelance marketplaces provide a marketplace for freelancers and buyers. Service providers or sellers create a profile where they include a description of the services they offer, examples of their work, and, in some cases, information about their rates. Buyers register and complete a basic profile, and then post projects outlining their requirements. Buyers will then bid for these projects on a fixed price or hourly basis.[29] Many of these websites have user review sections that affect the reputation of freelancers who list there, and which may be manipulated.[30]
Freelance marketplaces have globalized competition for some jobs, allowing workers in high- and low-income countries to compete with one another.[31] According to a 2016 study by the McKinsey Global Institute, 15% of independent workers used online marketplaces to find work.[32]
These marketplaces, including Fiverr and Lyft, have been criticized as exploiting workers.[33][34]
Legal aspects
Many periodicals and newspapers offer the option of ghost signing, when a freelance writer signs with an editor but their name is not listed on the byline of their article(s). This allows the writer to receive benefits while still being classified as a freelancer, and independent of any set organization. In some countries this can lead to taxation issues (e.g., so-called IR35 violations in the UK). Ghost signing has little bearing on whether a writer is a freelancer or employee in the US.
Freelancers often must handle contracts, legal issues, accounting, marketing, and other business functions by themselves. If they do choose to pay for professional services, they can sometimes turn into significant
The European Commission does not define "freelancers" in any legislative text. However, the European Commission defines a self-employed person as someone: "pursuing a gainful activity for their own account, under the conditions laid down by national law". In the exercise of such an activity, the personal element is of special importance and such exercise always involves a large measure of independence in the accomplishment of the professional activities. This definition comes from Directive (2010/41/EU) on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity.[35]
The European Forum of Independent Professionals defines freelancers as: "a highly-skilled subset of self-employed workers, without employers nor employees, offering specialised services of an intellectual and knowledge-based nature". Independent professionals work on a flexible basis in a range of creative, managerial, scientific and technical occupations; they are not a homogeneous group and as such, they cannot be considered or investigated as a whole. They are generally characterised by a large portion of autonomy, a high labour productivity, knowledge intensive performance, social commitment and a large dose of entrepreneurship and specialisation.
In the U.S. in 2009, federal and state agencies began increasing their oversight of freelancers and other workers whom employers classify as
At the same time, this increased enforcement is affecting companies whose business models are based on using non-employee workers, as well as independent professionals who have chosen to work as independent contractors. For example, book publishing companies have traditionally outsourced certain tasks like indexing and proofreading to individuals working as independent contractors. Self-employed accountants and attorneys have traditionally hired out their services to accounting and law firms needing assistance. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service[37] offers some guidance on what constitutes self-employment, but states have enacted stricter laws to address how independent contractors should be defined. For example, a Massachusetts law[38] states that companies can hire independent contractors only to perform work that is "outside the usual course of business of the employer," meaning workers working on the company's core business must be classified as employees. According to this statute,[39] a software engineering firm cannot outsource work to a software engineering consultant, without hiring the consultant as an employee. The firm could, however, hire an independent contractor working as an electrician, interior decorator, or painter. This raises questions about the common practice of consulting, because a company would typically hire a management consulting firm or self-employed consultant to address business-specific needs that are not "outside the usual course of business of the employer."
United States
In the United States, where the federal constitution automatically grants ownership of the copyright only to the author, the contract agreement must explicitly use the language, that the product is "work for hire", and that the copyright is transferred to the client. Otherwise, only the freelancer will own the right to reproduce the work. Registration of copyright is not required for ownership of these rights; however, litigation against infringement may require registration, as documented in the class action lawsuit, Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick. In that case, freelance writers sued publishers for copyright violations, though the case was eventually settled for the benefit of freelance writers whether or not they had registered their copyright with the Copyright Office.[40] Copyright is rescinded only when a freelancer signs a contract specifying that they are "working for hire," or if they are hired into employment. These rights are further specified in U.S. copyright law, Section 101 in the Copyright Act of 1976 (17 USC §101).[41]
Etymology
The term freelancer is commonly attributed to
See also
- Career-oriented social networking market
- Employment website
- Freelancers Union
- Freelancing in India
- Mercenary
- Misclassification of employees as independent contractors
- Outline of consulting
- Recruitment advertising
- Self-employment
- Stringer (journalism)
- Temporary work
References
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- ^ a b Scholz, Trebor (2012). Digital Labor. Routledge.
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- ^ Gregg, Tim (14 February 2013). "The State of the Freelance Economy". DeskMag. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- ^ "With freelancing on the rise, India's gig economy is going strong: report". The Hindu Business Line. 9 January 2018. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ "This Survey of 21,000 Freelancers From 170 Countries Shows What Having No Boss Is Like". Inc.com. 27 October 2017. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ Register of Copyrights (April 2019). "Authors, Attribution, and Integrity: Examining Moral Rights in the United States" (PDF). United States Copyright Office. pp. 15–16. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
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- ^ Ross, Joel; Andrew Zaldivar; Lilly Irani; Bill Tomlinson (2010). "Who are the Turkers? Worker Demographics in Amazon Mechanical Turk" (PDF). CHI EA: 2863–2872. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
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- ^ a b McKercher, Catherine (September 2009). "Writing on the Margins: Precarity and the Freelance Journalist". Feminist Media Studies. 3 (9): 370–374.
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- ^ AOL Staff. "People are outraged over this Fiverr subway advertisement". AOL.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ "Directive (2010/41/EU) on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity". 15 July 2010. Archived from the original on 24 August 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
- ^ "Employee Misclassification: Improved Coordination, Outreach, and Targeting Could Better Ensure Detection and Prevention". U.S. Government Accountability Office. 10 August 2009. Archived from the original on 8 October 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
- ^ "Independent Contractor (Self-Employed) or Employee?". U.S. Internal Revenue Service. 15 June 2009. Archived from the original on 2 November 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
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External links
- The dictionary definition of freelancer at Wiktionary