I feel like all I ever do is share bad news with you lot, so it’s nice to come forward with something positive for a change!
If you’re anything like me, you most likely tend to worry quite a bit about where your next pay cheque is coming from. Working as a freelancer or contractor is never easy since you’re the one responsible for seeking out new clients and new projects, and when the economy suffers your thoughts naturally turn to whether the nation’s employers – those who hire us on either through a one-on-one relationship or via an umbrella company – are going to have the capital to do so.
Well, it looks like we can all breathe a little easier if the Recruitment and Employment Confederation can be believed! The industry body’s most recent jobs outlook report, which came out just recently, says that as far as the next quarter is concerned demand for interim workers like us should remain steady.
Around 55 per cent of the businesses that the REC surveyed said that they plan to keep their contract worker numbers stable over the coming three months. Even better was the nearly 40 per cent who said they would increase their use of freelancers and other interim workers, which means that the majority of firms in the UK are either growing their workforce or keeping it steady!
All told, only less than 1 out of every 10 survey respondents said they had plans to cut back on payroll including temporary freelancers. I’ll take those figures in a heartbeat! It sounds to me like things are going to be quite stable indeed for us contract workers, which is unmitigated good news for once and makes me quite happy.
Let’s hope it stays this way for the rest of the year and well on into 2014. It just goes to show you that even in a poor economy the value of the contract worker goes undiminished, though this is most likely due to their ability to complete work on a per-project basis, which saves employers money whilst still enabling them to meet the demands of their market. Sure, being a freelancer might require you to shop yourself about in search of the next great client but it’s better than being made redundant and ending up having to work the local takeaway counter because no one else is hiring permanent staff anymore, right?
