Using technology as a replacement for labor to create a man-in-the-middle dollar is creating ridiculous wealth for investors and a few founders while creating hardly any jobs. The infrastructure doesn’t exist in most truly rural areas to support the broadband necessary to make work-from-home viable for most positions, and building it out isn’t going to be profitable due to the low user density present.
The rise of freelancing has turned the world into a global marketplace, where employers and freelancers from any location have equal chances of success. Employers can tap into a pool of human resources from anywhere in the world, while freelancers can get hired with the help of technology-driven tools, regardless of their location.
According to a report by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), the Asian countries dominate the digital gig economy. The report outlines the top six countries that take up the majority of online jobs in the global freelancing ecosystem.
The report reveals that certain regions are rich in specific types of freelancing talent. For instance, the US is known for its writing and translation work, while India is famous for quality programmers at a cheaper rate, and Bangladesh has an enormous sales and marketing support resource.
India tops the list with 24% of the global online workers residing in the country. Indian workers are highly competitive due to their better education levels and higher technical knowledge. More than 50% of these workers offer software development services globally. The contribution of freelancing to India’s Gross Domestic Product is a massive $400 billion. The country’s popularity in freelancing is due to the reasonable paycheck, which acts as additional or primary income, especially for women professionals and retired people who fail to find adequate jobs due to family and societal pressures.
