The Gig Economy has been growing exponentially since freelancing became a trend around 2016 onwards, and Filipinos are one of the top drivers, bringing about huge help for the Philippine economy, especially at this time of pandemic. In the data gathered by PayPal in 2018 for the Global Freelancer Insights Report, there are about 2%, or 1.5 million to 2 million, Filipino freelancers in the Philippines. In addition, the Philippines placed in the top 6 out of the top 10 countries with the fastest-growing market for freelancers, showing a 35% growth in freelance earnings, according to the 2019 report by CNBC. Moreover, these data seem to show Filipinos a promising future in the freelancing world, working side-by-side with others abroad and building connections that are never thought possible.
Where remote work is making a lot of noise and trends recently because of ECQs in the Philippines, and where freelancing sites are always open for Filipinos, it’s not surprising that you can find many Filipinos signing up for highly marketable skills and working in the comforts of their homes.
Reasons Why It Is The Future For Filipinos
There are a number of reasons why this could mean big for Filipino freelancers and could become the future of work escaping the tiring 9-5 corporate and labor-intensive jobs.
1. Higher Pay
Freelancers in the Philippines can earn about $5.00-30.00 per hour, which triples if not doubles the standard pay in the Philippines. With being able to work comfortably in the comforts of their homes and having no problems paying the bills, it’s no wonder why Filipinos opt-in to freelancing despite having a day job.
2. Better Control of Time
When freelancing, you are mostly independent contractors working on 1-3 projects while working closely with your bosses. For fixed-contracts, you can follow your own time and pace while working on various projects and keeping the deadlines in check.
3. Thriving Online
Filipinos love challenges and trying new things, even in their careers. With remote work seen on the rise, thousands of Filipinos are enrolling themselves in various online courses for highly marketable skills, and those of more experienced ones who want to branch out are building their own agencies to welcome and provide more opportunities for budding Filipino freelancers.
4. Opportunity To Build A Good Career
One good thing about freelancing is building your profile. Once you’ve already worked on multiple projects and earned, it will build your profile and credibility. This attracts more opportunities with the skills you choose you’ve never thought you could actually make good money.
5. Highly Competent For Joining The Highly Competitive World
Filipinos are competitive enough and are one of the great sources of highly in-demand skills, such as good content, design, customer service support, digital marketing, human resources, data entry, IT, and other freelancing skills. It’s no wonder that you can see many U.S. agencies and businesses based here in the Philippines.
6. No Tight Requirements
As a freelancer applying for a job, as long as you can do the job well with your skills, there are a lot of possibilities that you will be hired for that job. There are no tight requirements needed to start freelancing. Anyone can start freelancing. Even high school and college students can be freelancers on various freelancing sites, like Upwork or Fiverr.
