The freelance job market in India witnessed a 22 per cent surge in January 2021 as compared to January 2019, according to Indeed report.

As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the job market compelling organisations to restructure their workforce, data on Indeed concurrently revealed that postings for freelance jobs spiked between May and June 2020, a near two-fold increase from the same period in 2019.

With the implementation of work-from-home structures, job search activity post March 2020 was consistently higher than pre-pandemic levels, peaking in April 2020. However, data shows that at any point in time, freelance job postings have outstripped freelance job searches.

The report also analyzed the nature of freelance jobs against the rapid digitisation and skilling of workforce in India. The data showed a concentration of freelance jobs in the creative, tech, sales and recruitment fields with these sectors contributing to 55 per cent of the freelance jobs posted on Indeed.

As of January 2021, Freelance Writer was the most in-demand job in this segment, followed by Freelance Designer, Recruiter, Developer and Digital marketer. Business Development Executive and PHP developer also emerged in the top-10 freelance job titles in India.

Indeed looked at understanding if freelance jobs were more sought after by some age groups over others. The study found that searches for freelance jobs were highest in the 20-29 year age group - this cohort contributed to 73 per cent of freelance job searches on Indeed in January 2021.

Sashi Kumar, Managing Director, Indeed India, said “Pushing the freelance community to the fore, the pandemic year witnessed increased hiring and search momentum for freelance jobs on Indeed. We believe that changes in the external job environment and the added flexibility of work-from-home, has significantly improved the attitude of the employer and job seeker towards freelance jobs. In addition to optimizing productivity, freelancing provides a sense of ownership and creative freedom that are sought after, especially by the younger, more agile workforce. Our data also indicates that these jobs were most sought after by job seekers in the 20-29 year age bracket.”

The 5 top paying freelance jobs in India include PHP Developer, Recruiter, Business Development Executive, Content Writer, and Digital Marketer.