{"id":573438,"date":"2024-05-08T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virtualvocations.com\/blog\/?p=573438"},"modified":"2024-12-31T13:24:04","modified_gmt":"2024-12-31T18:24:04","slug":"freelancing-survey-results-500-workers-polled-job-flexibility-and-career-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virtualvocations.com\/blog\/annual-statistical-remote-work-reports\/freelancing-survey-results-500-workers-polled-job-flexibility-and-career-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Freelancing Survey Results: 500 Workers Polled on Job Flexibility and Career Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Freelancing is on the rise. An additional 4 million U.S. professionals joined the freelance labor force in 2023, inspiring us to create a survey to learn more about the lure of freelancing for workers as well as its challenges, work-life implications, and financial impacts. The results of our 2024 “Flex, Freedom & Freelancing Survey<\/strong>” are here. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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March 2024 ushered in the 9th Remote Work Week celebration at Virtual Vocations<\/a>. The annual event promotes the advantages of remote work. In 2022, when Virtual Vocations became a fully remote job board, Remote Work Week evolved to showcase the breadth of telework opportunities that do not require on-site responsibilities or business travel. For example, in 2023 alone, Virtual Vocations’ job board featured 213,000 fully remote job postings<\/a> from more than 10,000 unique companies and across 42 career fields. For 2024, Remote Work Week also highlighted the benefits of freelancing<\/a> for job flexibility and career freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why Freelancing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Freelancing is a version of self-employment in which workers are beholden to themselves, not a company. Freelancers commit to several simultaneous projects rather than only working for one employer on a long-term basis. As such, freelancers are responsible for paying their own taxes<\/a> and providing their own benefits, including health insurance and retirement funds. Since freelancers can typically work from any location with a stable internet connection, this work style naturally lends itself to remote jobs. Telework career categories common to freelancing arrangements include information technology<\/a>, healthcare<\/a>, project management<\/a>, writing<\/a>, graphic design<\/a>, social media<\/a>, education<\/a>, and human services<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The job flexibility and career freedom afforded by freelancing is a driving force for career change. Our 2023 “Career Change Survey<\/a>” reflected the desire for workers to have more control over how, when, and where they work. Survey results from the career change poll revealed that more than eight in 10 workers set out to find a new job last year. Approximately half of workers pointed to job flexibility, including the ability to work from home 100% of the time, as the main reason\u2014ahead of higher compensation\u2014they wanted to find a new job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, at least 4 million U.S. workers decided to seize opportunities for flexibility and joined the freelance labor force. The Upwork Research Institute’s 2023 “Freelance Forward” survey report<\/a> detailed freelancing’s effects on the U.S. economy and labor market. Last year, freelancers produced roughly $1.27 trillion in earnings and made up 38% of the workforce. As of 2023, 64 million Americans perform some type of freelance work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Curious About Freelancing? Explore These Virtual Vocations Remote Career Resources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

“How to Get Started As a Freelancer” Career Course<\/h4>\n\n\n
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Learn everything you need to know about getting started in a freelance career. You will discover the basics of setting yourself up, how to balance your workload while maintaining work-life balance, and how to protect your financial future while being your own boss. This self-paced career course includes 90 minutes of exclusive course content, three resource downloads, and four instructional videos.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“Freelance Rate Calculator” Fillable Worksheets<\/h4>\n\n\n
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This fillable resource will help you determine your worth as a freelancer and offers a step-by-step approach to calculating your freelancing rates you want to use during your remote job search. The worksheets include tips on deciding what your Minimum Acceptable Rate (MAR) is, how to figure out the total expenses and taxes you will want to consider when deciding your rates, and customizable boxes to help you calculate your MAR step by step.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cGet in on the Gig Economy\u201d Career Coaching Replay<\/h4>\n\n\n
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The gig economy is thriving. In this career coaching session, we discuss strategies for professionals to also thrive as independent contractors in a telework environment. The session covers topics like the differences between freelancers, independent contractors, and permanent employees, how to navigate a competitive freelance market and recognize your value, tips for setting freelance rates, and advice for generating stable income as an at-home worker.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“Flex, Freedom & Freelancing Survey” Methodology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Freelancing’s steady rise and labor significance, as well as the abundance of fully remote jobs in the freelancer space, influenced us to design a survey to further explore the impacts of freelancing on modern professionals. We shared our “Flex, Freedom & Freelancing Survey” during our Remote Work Week 2024 event. From March 4\u201316, we invited Virtual Vocations members and the general public to participate the freelancing survey. In total, 508 respondents<\/strong> provided their opinions on freelancing, including their personal experiences with self-employment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wanted to gain as much understanding as possible about respondents’ relationships with freelancing. To accomplish this, we created a qualifying survey question to screen participants and sort them into relevant respondent groups. The qualifying question, which is shared below, allowed respondents to share whether or not they had ever performed freelance work in their careers and, if they had, disclose if they were actively freelancing at the time of the survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Have you performed freelance work at any point in your career?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n