The high costs of hiring full-time staff in the UK has triggered a major boom for freelancers as companies rush to outsource marketing, social media and even creative briefs, according to a new study.
The report, published online outsourcing site Freelancer.co.uk, shows Internet marketing jobs were up 110%, followed by marketing (up 45%), telemarketing (up 38%) and bulk marketing (up 13%).
Jobs related to online marketing, such as link building were up 89% and SEO up 72%.
Copywriting jobs also saw a big increase, with businesses in the UK hiring freelancers for copywriting up 14%, articles up 47%, academic writing up 90%, and ghost-writing up 65% to 935 jobs. Proofreading also grew 46%.
The next big thing for UK writers appears to be travel writing, up 104%, article submission, up 82%, and report writing up 52%. Google AdSense was also up 105%. Globally, AdSense projects grew 76% in Q3 2011, only to plummet 21% in Q4.
Figures also reveal an increase in businesses outsourcing creative jobs, showing signs that businesses are gearing up for growth. Jobs in graphic design were up 119%, website design up 100%, brochure design went up 88%, while logo design was up 42% and Photoshop up 27%.
Businesses outsourcing data mining jobs also increased, up 162% in the UK, revealing that more UK online firms are dependent on this information for growth.
Among UK employers, Android jobs grew 146%, more than double the 57% growth in iPhone jobs. If trends continue, Freelancer.co.uk analysts predict that by the end of the end of 2012 Android projects in the UK will have eclipsed iPhone jobs.
The figures reveal that Apple’s success continues outside the company’s exploits in the smartphone market. Cocoa jobs grew 182% (from 79 to 223 jobs), and iPad jobs by 67% (283 to 474 jobs).
HTML5 jobs increased by 105% in the UK in the last 12 months and will definitely be accelerating in 2012 as it replaces Adobe’s Flash as the powerhouse of online work. The latter is now in terminal decline, dropping 7%. The decrease shows a lack of confidence in the continued stability of Flash as a platform.
Head of Freelancer.co.uk Saif Bonar said: “Our figures show that businesses are gearing up for growth. Our figures back up signs that the economy is slowly improving and businesses are now looking to the future.”
