2023, A Year Of Big Opportunities For Freelancers!

According to the new Freelancing in the MENA Poll 2023 conducted by Bayt.com, the Middle East’s #1 job site, a large number of MENA professionals (89%) plan to do more freelance work in 2023. The biggest motivations for taking up freelance work include earning extra income (45%), exploring more career opportunities (25%), learning new skills (21%) and practicing what they like (10%).

The Freelancing poll aimed to gather opinions from the increasing number of skilled workers who are jumping on the freelance bandwagon. Interestingly, a whopping 83% of respondents believe that the demand for freelancers has increased in the past three years.

Top Skills Freelancers Must Have

Respondents outlined the top skills freelancers must have, which include time management (36%), communication skills (24%), ability to market themselves (21%), leadership (12%) and attention to detail (8%).

The fastest-growing industries for freelancers in 2023 emerge as Digital Marketing (37%), Information Technology (16%), Customer Service (14%), Graphic Design (13%), HR and Recruiting (12%) as well as Accounting, Banking and Finance (8%).

Ola Haddad, Director of Human Resources at Bayt.com says: “Freelancers are one of the fastest growing segments in the Middle East market and this has been boosted by the pandemic. Our latest survey conducted among MENA professionals shows that time management and communication skills are most desired in freelancers and online job sites remain the most important digital touchpoint when it comes to finding freelance work.”

The poll also gauged perceptions of the freelance job market in the Middle East – where 86% revealed that their company is planning to hire freelancers in 2023 and 78% say that their company offer a full-time job to the freelancer after completing a project.

Respondents usually search for freelance jobs on online job sites and professional platforms (65%), social media (17%), companies’ websites (13%) and personal network (6%).

Benefits of Hiring Freelancers

From an organization’s point of view, respondents outlined multiple benefits of hiring freelancers for the company. Freelancers are better at delivering within tight deadlines (44%), they are good for contingency planning between hires (20%), hiring freelancers is cost-effective (18%) and freelancers provide extra help for small teams or departments (17%).

According to the respondents, challenges associated with freelancing include lack of job security (53%), less pay than full-time jobs (22%), lack of extra benefits (12%) and fewer chances of receiving a promotion (13%).

Data for the Freelancing in the MENA Poll 2023 was collected online from December 4, 2022 to January 6, 2023. Results are based on a sample of 2,375 respondents from the following countries: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Sudan among others.