By Matthias Samuel
Interestingly, Pakistan has defeated its arch-rival India and Ukraine has defeated its oppressor Russia in freelancing business.
According to a research done by Dispatch News Desk (DND) News Agency, over the past year, the United States has remained first on the list, Britain at second position, Brazil at third, Pakistan at fourth, Ukraine at fifth, Philippines at sixth, India at seventh, Bangladesh at eighth, Russia at ninth and Serbia at tenth. According to a report, Pakistan saw a 47 percent increase in freelancing as compared to the last year. The report says that 12,000 youngsters graduating from e-employment have earned Rs 14 crore through internet. It is a great achievement for a country like Pakistan that has left India behind in this field as India is investing many more times in the IT industry of its country than Pakistan. Report is based on 2018 transactions.
Pakistan is fast moving into the world of freelancing. The clients you work for in Freelancing pay you online through a third-party company after you complete the work. These third-party online pay-per-minute companies can be PayPal, PayPal, local banks or other platforms. In Pakistan, if you work for a foreign country, design a website or write a script, then most of the payment is paid to you. Although PayPal is the largest network in the world; PayPal is not providing its services to Pakistan, which is why the freelancers here are affiliated with PayPal. The payer company sends money to their account. It pays in 100 currencies in 200 countries.
In graphic designing, Ukraine is leading overall and even US based freelancing agencies are preferring for hiring Ukrainians for graphics work. This situation is helping most young generation of Ukrainian whose portfolios are strong enough to contest for their full-time jobs in European Market after doing freelancing for some years.
Freelancing is also leading because you work in a ‘free time’ space and time free of confinement. Your sphere is not confined to a single city or one country, but the whole world becomes an office for you. You can do as much as you want. You don’t have to go to an office to do this, but you can do it at your home, a shared workplace or a leisure space. In Pakistan, the sector of freelancers is growing rapidly because of the traditional employment opportunities are becoming increasingly limited as in other countries of the world.
Matthias Samuel is a student in Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad, and occasionally writes blogs and articles.
