Umbrella company contractors, rejoice – new research from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation shows you’re about to become quite popular.
In fact, the REC’s latest jobs market survey discovered that one out of every two firms has plans to increase the number of interim workers they use over the next quarter. This figure remains almost unchanged when these same firms were asked about their longer-term plans, indicating that it should be a good six months of growth in demand for freelancers, contract workers, and many one else in the self-employed temporary workforce.
So why the sudden interest in contractors from the labour markets? Well it’s a good indication that the economy is strong enough to support these firms in their efforts to expand and grow instead of stagnate and shiver in the cold. On top of that, the so-called skills shortage – the phenomenon that has been credited for the creation of one out of every five vacancies overall in the employment market – has made it harder for some firms to find qualified workers to fill permanent positions. This has driven many companies looking to remain competitive into the arms of contract workers, especially in the more technologically advanced areas such as information technology, networking and programming.
So what does this all mean for the average freelancer then? Well for one you’re most likely going to have a plethora of projects to choose from, all of which are going to offer competitively priced compensation packages for your time and effort. However don’t rest on your laurels, as this uptick in interest in recruiting temporary workers may level out when the skills shortage ends; either the number of available freelance positions will dwindle as permanent employees begin to be hired once more – or as companies begin to outsource positions in order to keep up with demand. Either way make sure you’re putting in a bit for a rainy day just in case down the line – and that’s probably not the worst advice I’ve ever given anyone ever!
