It has been a challenging few years for tech workers with the biggest names in the industry making sweeping cuts to their workforces.
Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon have all made lay-offs with rumors that Apple is also set to make more cuts too.
LinkedIn launched its freelance marketplace in 2021 but it has now released some details of how this is now helping some of the projected 124,000 workers that have lost their jobs this year alone.
LinkedIn Leans Into Freelancing
While the service was launched to tap into the changes in how people worked during and immediately after the Pandemic, it is only now that LinkedIn has decided to give a glimpse into uptake.
As TechCrunch reports, around 10 million people have created pages in the Services Marketplace. However, this is a mere fraction of the company’s one billion users. What is significant, though, is this is a 48% rise within a year.
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While LinkedIn hasn’t disclosed the number of commercial engagements that the marketplace has facilitated, it has revealed that there are an average of eight service requests/ minute and this is 65% up year-on-year.
Almost Half Americans are Freelancing
In a report published last year, “Talent provider” MBO Partners stated that “some 72.1 million Americans, about 45% of the workforce” are freelance and this had grown by a staggering 89% since 2020.
This figure could dramatically grow. Alongside the mass redundancies is the possibility that the strict RTO mandates being issued by many of the multinational tech companies could also see some employees quit (or be gently pushed towards doing so).
AI Impact on Freelance Market
The freelance market is in flux. Demand is reported to be dipping after optimism at the start of the year. But the impact of the job losses may not have been fully felt as yet and there might still be enough in-house jobs to mop up those who have been let go.
However, AI could also play a role in job losses/ changes in the future; but also how freelancers work and how effective it is for businesses to match with them.
Upwork has been open about its push to integrate AI into its workflow using its own proprietary dataset. Fiverr launched AI search tools in the summer. It also brought in hourly rates; a loyalty programme and a satisfaction guarantee. All of these developments suggest that freelance platforms have a role to play but are having to work hard both for freelancers and companies to connect them with in these times of turbulence.
