MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 5, 2014) - Elance-oDesk, the global leader in online work, today released its first official report documenting the state of the online work market in the United States (Separately, the company also issued a Global Online Work Report showing global trends in online work). The U.S. Online Work Report draws from the Elance-oDesk data warehouse, which contains the world's largest and most comprehensive set of data available regarding independent work happening online.
U.S. businesses posted more than half a million jobs year to date -- out of 1.2 million job postings globally -- in order to hire and work with a growing network of independent professionals who work online.
Other report highlights for 2014 year to date in the U.S. include:
- Online job postings grew 22%1, compared to offline job growth of 3%2
- The average U.S. hourly wage for online work is $23.85, comparable to $24.31 as the average hourly earning of employees on private non-farm payrolls3
- U.S. businesses are expected to spend more than half a billion dollars hiring online in 2014 (out of approximately $930 million dollars globally in 2014)
"Never before have we enjoyed such visibility into work -- from the number and nature of jobs, to demand for skills, to where and how the work gets done," said Fabio Rosati, CEO of Elance-oDesk. "We live in a connected age when millions of businesses and professionals can collaborate with anyone with unprecedented ease. Together with our customers, we are re-imagining where, when and how work gets done."
Businesses adapt their talent acquisition strategies
With 40% percent of the U.S. workforce expected to be independent by 20204, businesses are increasingly hiring and working with independent professionals online. As of today, one million American businesses have registered on Elance.com and oDesk.com. Elance-oDesk predicts that by 2020, this rapid adoption will fuel more than $10 billion of work annually via the company's online workplaces.
"Our goal is to put a world of talent in the hands of businesses and billions of dollars in the pockets of independent professionals," said Rosati. "Of jobs posted on Elance and oDesk, 25% are filling within 24 hours, and the average job fills in under three days -- compared to the weeks and months it takes to hire or find work offline," he added.
As businesses find the skills they need, professionals are increasing their earnings
U.S. business spend on online work grew 29% year over year. Some of the top hourly rates in the U.S. include the following: (based on 2014 hires thus far)
| Patent Law | $112.20 / hour average | |
| Ruby Programming | $61.00 / hour average | |
| Startup Consulting | $54.00 / hour average | |
| Django Development | $45.70 / hour average | |
| Animation | $35.90 / hour average | |
Data Source Information
All data is sourced from the combined Elance.com and oDesk.com databases and, unless otherwise specified, covers the U.S. from January 1 to May 31, 2014. Data was pulled on May 28, 2014, and projected out to May 31, 2014. For more on the report, contact press@elance-odesk.com.
Global data from the full Elance-oDesk community of more than 10 million businesses and freelancers is available in the Global Online Work Report (also released today).
About Elance-oDesk
Elance-oDesk is creating the world's largest online workplaces. More than 2.5 million businesses and 8 million freelancers tap into www.Elance.com and www.oDesk.com to work together via the Internet.
As an increasingly connected and independent workforce goes online, talent -- like software, shopping and communications before it -- is shifting to the cloud. This shift is making it faster and easier for businesses to hire for the skills they need, when they need them, while freeing professionals from set time and place work.
Freelancers are earning $930 million annually via Elance and oDesk. Elance-oDesk is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in Redwood City, California and Oslo, Norway.
1 According to number of job openings on Elance-oDesk
2 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
3 According to the BLS April 2014, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t19.htm
4 According to a study by Intuit
