Demand for freelance jobs related to artificial intelligence (AI) is growing rapidly, according to Freelancer.com’s Fast 50 Report for the second quarter of 2019. These jobs include machine learning, statistical analysis, and data processing.
Freelancer.com’s report lists the top 50 job categories in every quarter and cites the number of jobs posted in the site for each category during the previous and current quarters. With these data, the fastest growing and declining jobs in terms of demand are also shown in the report.
Freelancer.com engineers and data scientists were able to identify these based on activities in the site involving more than 433,000 job posts in various categories.
Data Processing is in 5th position among the top 50 for the second quarter of 2019. It posted a 38.65% increase in demand during the second quarter – jumping from 10,896 jobs posted in the first quarter to 15,107 in the second.
In 7th place is Statistical Analysis whose demand grew by 36.82%, from 1,222 to 1,672 jobs posted in the second quarter.
Occupying 8th spot is Machine Learning which posted an increase in demand by 36.66% – from 2,144 to 2,930. The skills of AI and machine learning engineers are now being used for various purposes – from financial forecasting and vaccine development to identification of suicide risk and writing car commercials.
Another tech-intensive job skill also figures strongly in the list. Landing in 6th spot is expertise in React Native, an open-source framework created by Facebook for the development of mobile apps for Android and iOS. Demand for React Native skills increased by 37.95%, from 1,162 to 1,603. German online statistics portal Statista reveals that mobile app downloads around the world will reach 258.2 billion by 2022.
The other job categories in the top 10 are Customer Service, Copy Typing, Bookkeeping, Academic Writing, Spanish, and Virtual Assistant.
Just outside the Top 10 circle are jobs involving Algorithm (11th), Engineering (13th) and Statistics (14th). Both Algorithm and Statistics require skillsets useful for and related to AI and machine learning.
Demand for Algorithm expertise went up by 32.34%, from 2,489 to 3,249 while that for Statistics increased by 31.83%, from 1,800 to 2,373.
Meanwhile, Engineering registered a rise in demand by 31.93%, from 3,636 to 4,797 in the second quarter.
Rounding up the 11th to 20th positions are Data Entry, Microsoft Office, English Spelling, Swift, Adobe Illustrator, 2D Animation and Excel.
Among the job categories where demand has declined are Metatrader, Bootstrap, Twitter, Icon Design, Google Plus, Social Networking, Programming, Branding, PSD to HTML, Joomla, and Prestashop.
“Several skills in the Freelancer Fast 50 saw a decline in Q2 though declines in demand were much less pronounced than in Q1,” the report stated. “Skills that fall out of vogue in one quarter can see a huge uplift in demand the next.”
