New research says that temporary staff members such as freelancers and umbrella company contractors are poised to have some very smooth sailing in 2014.
The IMA says that the next 12 months will show some steady and positive growth for contract workers, even in the face of the possibility of the seemingly never ending tax rows instigating financial disaster for the self-employed. Despite these fears, the IMA reported a 29 per cent jump in 2013’s third quarter when it came to its members’ total revenue; according to the organisation, this shows how much demand has increased over the course of the last 12 months, especially when it comes to short term contracts and temporary staff.
Interestingly enough it seems that the gender gap is beginning to close a bit when it comes to contract working, as the research discovered that women now comprise 36 per cent of the interim workforce – the highest this figure has reached since 2010. The IMA predicts this percentage will only improve as the year continues, especially as women begin to realise in broader numbers that freelancing is often the best option for anyone looking to remain gainfully employed whilst also harnessing the fantastic benefits of flexible working.
And no, that’s not some thinly veiled comment on women working outside the home whilst they should be taking care of the children and letting the man go out and earn a living. That would be, of course, patently absurd – not to mention offensive to women everywhere! And those lucky men who work from home and get to see their sons and daughters grow up before their eyes. But that’s neither here nor there, though I am gratified to see how the balance of power between men and women in the temporary workforce has begun to shift towards what I can only hope will be some equilibrium. There’s no reason necessarily for the freelancing community to be dominated by men.
That being said, many of the fastest-growing sectors are traditional bastions of male power such as the information technology sector. I don’t know what it is about IT that attracts so many men over women but it does seem to me that network administrators and technicians tend to be male more than they are female, don’t they? I wonder what that’s all about.
