The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and payment portal Payoneer Philippines say that the country’s still-nascent freelance sector is booming as more Filipinos see the benefits of online work.
Some 43.4% of Filipino freelancers have been working in the industry for less than a year, while an additional 26.8% have been working in the gig economy for no more than two years, per data from the DICT’s Philippine Online Freelancing Industry Study.
Yet despite this newness, as much as 42.9% of Filipino freelancers have clientele outside of the Philippines, according to the report. This is backed up by The Philippines Freelance Market 2022 Report conducted by Payoneer and GCash, which found that freelancers with both local and foreign clients stand to earn as much as 57% more per hour than their counterparts who serve only local clients.
The DICT also found that 58.78% of Filipino independent contractors have experience working as virtual assistants. About 43% of those polled say they are proficient in social media marketing, and another 34.8% say the same about content development.
Respondents also noted proficiency in online marketing, Web research, customer service, and technology; Web development and design; online teaching and tutoring; and project management.
The abundance of resources available online has also simplified the process of developing one’s skill set. The majority of Filipino independent workers (83%) make use of free online courses to hone their craft.
And in addition to several online learning options, there are also many online job resources, such as onlinejobs.ph, indeed, guru, truelancer, craigslist, flexjobs, and upwork.
“The emergence of the gig economy has resulted in changes in the current workforce. With greater work-life balance and independence, freelancers were able to work with a diverse range of clients both locally and internationally,” said Payoneer regional vice president of South East Asia Miguel Warren at a recent webinar.
The full Philippines Freelance Market 2022 Report can be downloaded at https://paynr.co/PH-freelance-report-2022.
