Abdul Manan Javid
Freelancing is rapidly becoming one of the most sought-after and preferred jobs for people all over the world. The freelancing industry is a provocative one. Its recent proliferation has been staggering. People from different lines of business are now considering freelance jobs as their continuing career option. If we verbalize the scope of freelancing in Pakistan, then we have to admit that freelancing is the future of work industry. Since 2019 when the entire world was trapped in Covid-19 and lockdown so it was nearly impossible for people to carry on their physical jobs, it was the time when people started hunting for freelance jobs, and as a result a large number of people started freelance businesses to earn their bread and butter. This hike in freelance industry due to global pandemic increased in Pakistan and all over the world. Google, for sure is the world’s largest and most widely used World Wide Web organization, likewise the company prefers to contract with freelancers. As of March 2019, Google reported 102,000 employees and 120,000 freelancers. On the flip side of the coin, according to online Gig Economy Q2 2019 survey, Pakistan has outperformed other Asian Nations including Bangladesh, The Philippines, and Russia to secure the fourth spot, followed by United States, United Kingdom and Brazil. More than one million freelancers work in Pakistan, contributing to the state’s economy. Pakistani freelancers earned $150 million in Fiscal Year 2019-20, according to a survey conducted by Pakistan Software Export (PSEB). For the very first time in country’s history, IT exports grew by 47.4% to $212 billion in 2020-21. Acknowledging the benefits of freelancing and its contribution to the state’s economy government of Pakistan launched the Digi-skills program to educate 1 million freelancers in order to support youth of Pakistan and to enhance IT service exports. Digi-skills provides 15 free courses which are in high demand and after the completion of these courses trainees will be able to earn money by offering these skills online on any freelance marketplace like fiverr, upwork, people per hour etc . In order to support freelancers, ex PM Imran Khan announced a zero tax rate for registered freelancers over a certain period of time, as the state counted on the digital economy to boost its dollar inflows. But government will have to do more for the freelancer’s community that is to bring back PayPal in the country as PayPal is the striking need of every freelancer and it is challenging the new government to take note of the problems that freelance community is experiencing with online payments. I hope one day PayPal will be offering its services again in Pakistan as freelancing is on the rise and is the future of the job market in Pakistan and throughout the world.
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