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33 Stats You Might Find Surprising About Freelancing

  1. 🗃️ 90 new businesses/side hustles set up every hour in 2022 in the UK (Source: Enterprise Nation)
  2. 🤸🏻‍♀️ 43% of freelancers cite wanting to improve their mental health as motivation to make the switch (Source: Leapers.co)
  3. 📈 30% of UK adults are considering a side hustle or 2nd business to cope with rising costs (Source: Enterprise Nation)
  4. 🔮 Prediction: More than 50% of the US workforce will be freelancers by 2027 (Source: Gitnux)
  5. 🕺🏻 59% of nonfreelancers expect to freelance full or part-time in the future (Source: Gitnux)
  6. 😺 91% of freelancers feel positive about their future (Source: Gitnux)
  7. 🧑‍🚀 49% of companies hiring freelancers do so to access skills not available in the traditional workforce (Source: Finances Online)
  8. 🏳️‍🌈 13% of all American freelance artist designers are LGBT (Source: Zippia)
  9. 🙌 43% of creative freelancers feel optimistic about their business after Covid (Source: Ipsos)
  10. 🧑‍💻 21% of disabled people reported that they had made the move to self-employment for better work or job satisfaction (Source: IPSE)
  11. 💸 US: 75% of freelancers now earn more money than they did in their salaried roles (Source: Upwork)
  12. 🥊 The global pandemic hit creative freelancers 5 times harder than employees. (Source: It’s Nice That and Creative UK Group)
  13. 🪄 49% of male freelancers have been tricked by clients, and 38% of females report the same (Source: AndCo.)
  14. 👩‍🎨 8 in 10 people feel that creativity is critical to economic growth. Two-thirds believe creativity is essential for a wellrounded society, yet only 1 in 4 say they are living up to their creative potential (Source: Adobe Creativity Study)
  15. 🚿 72% of people get their best ideas in the shower (Source: Insider)
  16. 🎨 Graphic Designers had the most in-demand freelance job in 2022 with over 2,000 Google searches each month (Source: Protectivity)
  17. ✈️ 3 freelance jobs with the best travel opportunities: Doula, Dommelier, Blog writer (Source: Compare my jet)
  18. 📸 The most desirable freelance jobs in 2022: photographer, musician, architect (Source: Protectivity)
  19. 😰 49% of freelancers say they have felt stressed or anxious as a result of not getting paid on time (Source: School of marketing)
  20. 📍SMEs make up 29% of businesses in Northern Ireland, 28% in Scotland and 27% in Wales (Source: School of marketing)
  21. 🌎 The top 3 places to live to pursue your business: Singapore, Geneva, Amsterdam (Source: Compare my jet)
  22. 😃 How to be happy at work’ searches have increased 105% over three years (Source: Lem-uhn)
  23. 🚩 Named & shamed: the top 3 late paying companies in 2022: Minster Law Ltd (469 days), Sutton Maintenance Ltd (395 days), Canary Wharf Ltd (327 days) (Source: IPSE)
  24. 💷 Freelancers contribute £119 billion to the UK economy annually (Source: IPSE)
  25. ✅ 2/3 of freelancers think they made the right career move (Source: SimplyBusiness (UK))
  26. 💼 64% of employers planned to outsource more work to freelancers in 2021 (The Daily Express (UK))
  27. 4️⃣8️⃣ The average UK freelancer is 48 years old (Source: IPSE)
  28. ⏰ Four out of 10 companies consistently paid late freelancing costs in 2019 (Source: YunoJuno)
  29. 🌙 127% increase in design requests for the astrology industry (Source: Thimble (US))
  30. 😡 20 days per year are lost in collecting back payments (Source: IPSE)
  31. 🗓️ 44% of millennials have freelanced in the past year (Source: Statista (US))
  32. 🥦 20% increase in plant-based food brands seeking freelance work (Source: Thimble (US))
  33. 🏡 43% of Brits say they’re planning to adapt a room permanently (or build an extension) for a long term home workspace (Source: Instant offices (instantoffices.com/blog/featured/home-workspace-essentials)
  34. 💰 As of 2021, the self-employed population contribute an estimated £303 billion to UK economy (Source: IPSE)
  35. 🛌  Almost 1 in 10 freelancers didn’t take any days off in the prev. 12 months and 14% took less than 5 days (Source: IPSE)
  36. 🦠 13% of the self-employed population moved to freelancing between 2020 & 2021 (Source: IPSE)
  37. 👨‍💼Therapy professionals & media professionals have both experienced increases of 29% & 41% respectively since 2020 (Source: IPSE)
  38. ✍️ Almost 2/5 of freelancers (39%) have been working freelance for over 10 years (Source: IPSE)
  39. 📈 The majority of freelancers (58%) forecast an increase in their day rates over the next 12 months whereas a further 32% predict a decrease (Source: IPSE)
  40. ✋ Over 60% of freelancers believe that there is a general lack of respect for freelance type of work & community (Source: Thrive my way)

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