27/02/2018
Freelancing is Different in Africa
Today, freelancers represent 35% of the United States workforce. In the European Union, the rate is 16.1%, while South African figures are harder to determine, the number is thought to be about 10% and rising strongly. These figures demonstrate the same global trend: from creative entrepreneurs to those paid by the task, freelancing is on the rise worldwide.
In OECD countries, studies show that these individuals work chiefly in the service sector (50% of men and 70% of women). The remainder are everything from online assistants to architects, designers and photographers, and are mostly communications, media, design, art and tech, among others sectors.
The current increase in freelancing being observed is as a result of the increase outsourcing of tradition 9-to-5 white collar jobs to freelancers. This way of working is yet to be fully embraced in Africa country.
Freelancers in Africa are majorly blue collar workers who traditionally are the continents freelancers. They are majorly independent contractors hired on a project-to-project basis and work with different people most of the time. They are huge part of the continent's large informal sector.
Pink and especially white collar freelancers are few in Africa as there are fewer opportunity for white collar jobs in the continent. While some white collar workers left 9-to-5 jobs with poor pay to become freelancers, most became freelancers after failing to get a 9-to-5 job. This way of work was not the preferred choice for many white collar freelancers. unlike the United States where only 37% of current freelancers in the country say they resort to freelancing out of necessity.
In developed countries freelancing is increasingly a choice that people mostly make in order to escape the 9-to-5 workday or in other to work in style, trying to combine innovative approaches to business and lifestyle, making freelancing sound like an innovation or freedom.
This cannot be said of freelancing in most African countries, as the labor market and work environment are different. Most African freelancers never had the opportunity to have a 9-to-5 job, not to mention escaping from one. To them freelancing has nothing to do with style or work performance, it is simply a way to survive as daily they struggle to get enough gigs to get-by, and as such many of them have become jack of many trade.
For instance, a typical Nigerian freelancer can be a photographer, event managers, social media marketer, content writer, etc., However, some who started this way struggling, after some years have become successful and are earning good money.
The freelance industry for white and blue collar jobs in Africa is till very young. Full-time government or company-based work is still the standard for employment in Africa and African workers feel more secured and respected with a regular 9-to-5 job.
