Businesses and Self-Employed Freelancers Go Online to Escape Local Economies

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - Nov 14, 2012) - Elance, the leading online employment platform, today revealed that online hiring and earnings are far outpacing the traditional employment economy with over 40% growth rates. Elance's quarterly Global Online Employment Report shows that independent professionals in hard-hit areas are escaping their local economies by working online, and that demand for talent in marketing, writing, security and gaming is expanding around the globe.

"On Elance, your earnings aren't tied to where you are located. What matters most is what you can do, and how well you do it," said Fabio Rosati, CEO of Elance. "Skilled professionals everywhere are going online to find clients and interesting jobs. As Elance's growth accelerates, we are increasingly confident in our prediction that 1 in 3 workers will be hired online by 2020."

Q3 Highlights from the Report
With nearly 220,000 new job posts (+41%) and earnings of $50M (+42%), Elance set new records in Q3. The number of businesses hiring and the number of freelancers working on Elance increased significantly over the same quarter a year ago, translating into record growth for the company and increased freelancer optimism.

Professionals Escape Local Economies
Several U.S. cities with high unemployment saw an increase in online freelance earnings of more than 150% in the past year and some cities experiencing greater than 10% unemployment, such as Fresno, CA; Bend, OR; Greensboro, NC; Carson City, NV and Detroit, MI, saw greater than 500% increases in online freelance earnings. Several high unemployment states, including Mississippi (9.2% unemployment); Florida (8.7% unemployment) and Georgia (9.0% unemployment) had large freelance earnings increases. With the national unemployment rate hovering around 8%, unemployed professionals in the U.S. are looking online for flexible work opportunities to earn money.

Marketers Make a Splash
The sales and marketing category was particularly vibrant in Q3; job posts increased by 40% year-over-year and demand for skills such as social media marketing (+157%), marketing strategy (+136%) and lead generation (+136%) were all up significantly in 2012, rivaling IT and Programming, the top category on Elance. Businesses around the world today have more channels than ever to connect and engage with potential customers, which is increasing connectivity and fueling demand for marketing services online.

Security the Newest Growth Sector
Requests for security-centric experts such as security engineers (+448%), security analysts (+326%) and web security managers (+87%) skyrocketed this year on Elance. As businesses both small and large continue to adopt the cloud for a competitive advantage in productivity and collaboration, security is increasingly becoming a must-have for companies seeking peace of mind.

Niche Writing Skills Emerge
The number of jobs posted within the writing sector grew by 176% over the past year, and the increase was driven by several emerging skills. Specialized writing skills such as speech writing (+474%), script writing (+371%) and sports writing (+282%) have seen increases compared to the same quarter last year on Elance. By working online, freelancers with niche skill sets can work with a global client base that is looking for expert talent in these specific fields.

Businesses Get Animated
Demand for skills such as cover design (+303%), game development (+88%) and game programming (+76%) hit record growth in the last year on Elance, as businesses seek to convert users to players and make commerce fun again. Gamification of the enterprise topped the trend list this year, prompting businesses around the world to take note of this engagement strategy -- and they're turning to online resources to find the best talent.

Continued Strong Growth in Europe
Some of Europe's highest-unemployment countries showed significant online earning increases on Elance over last year. Countries including Spain (25.8% unemployment); Greece (25.1% unemployment); Portugal (15.7% unemployment) and Croatia (15.2% unemployment) have each shown unprecedented earnings growth of 48%, 167%, 101% and 298%, respectively in the third quarter of 2012 compared to a year ago. The United Kingdom, one of the highest earning countries on Elance, saw a 40% growth in earnings over the past year.

About Elance
Elance, the world's leading platform for online employment, helps businesses hire and manage in the cloud.

For businesses looking to staff-up a team on an hourly or project basis, Elance offers instant access to talent and the ability to build and manage entire teams online. For independent professionals who want to work online, Elance offers access to qualified clients, a virtual workplace and guaranteed pay for great work.

The company is privately held and headquartered in Mountain View, California and Oslo, Norway. For more information, visit Elance at www.elance.com.