By ROHAN MATTU, XAVIER GUZMAN & JOCELYN STRAND
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writers
Brendan Brady, 22, is a jazz performance major at Towson University. The senior pays his rent in the Charles Village neighborhood of Baltimore by drumming at various Maryland events.
“It feels surreal to be able to say that I can truly do what I love for a living,” said Brady, an aspiring session musician. “I couldn’t have imagined I’d be working like this with music so soon, but I’m always finding new gigs.”
Brady is a barista, but he considers “gigging” his full-time job. “I’ll probably always be a freelancer — a lot of full time musicians are freelancers,” Brady said.
People across the country have turned to freelance, gig-based work. Whether as a side hustle or as a full-time job, more Americans are opting to be their own boss and become a part of the gig economy.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines the gig economy as “a way of working that is based on people having temporary jobs or doing separate pieces of work, each paid separately, rather than working for an employer.”
App-based freelance services such as Uber, Lyft and Grubhub have made gig work much more accessible. Those who might have difficulty fitting a traditional job into their lives can now sign up to drive whenever they want.
The share of the workforce that is in the gig economy rose from 10 percent in 2005 to 16 percent in 2015, according to a report by the National Association of Counties. By 2020, half of the U.S. workers will be freelancers, says the report.
We examined nearly 300 job listings from Upwork, a website that helps freelancers and potential employers connect, to determine what type of gig economy jobs are most commonplace, how much people charge for services and where they are located. We also surveyed roughly 60 college students about their views of the gig economy.
Students are open to working in the gig economy because of the independence it offers
College students may be the ideal gig economy workers. They need income to help pay for school. They have irregular schedules that make full-time work difficult. And, indeed, our survey found that while in college, many students are open to gig work because of the independence and flexibility it offers.
One participant noted that, “Gig-based jobs don’t require as much of your attention as a full-time job would. They also allow for flexible hours which allows you time to do your homework.” Similarly, another student called gig work “very flexible,” explaining that they allow students “to choose when they want to work and for how long.”
Added another student: “There is potential to make a lot of money working a gig-based job, possibly even more than a traditional job depending on what you do, your luck, your marketing capabilities skillset.”
“It’s a great way to make money on your own time,” said another.” You can make time for school and work.”
Others noted the positives associated with being their own boss. A senior said, “I think it allows students to develop leadership and decision-making skills. This is more useful than other work experience because the best way to learn is by making mistakes. You learn a lot about yourself, when you are your own boss.”
Roughly 90% of participants said gig jobs are beneficial to college students, though only 35% had ever had such a job. Students who did work such a job most commonly said they worked fewer than 15 hours a week.
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After graduation, the gig economy loses its luster
Students were mixed on whether doing a gig job after graduation was in the cards. When asked if they would consider working a gig-based job after earning a college degree, 30 percent of college students surveyed answered “yes,” 30 percent answered “no” and 40 percent answered “I’m not sure.”
While gig work is great for supplemental income to help pay rent or tuition, some students said it is not sufficient to earn a living after graduation. Another cause for wariness was the lack of health benefits. When asked to rate on a scale of 1-10 (1 low, 10 high) how much health insurance plays into their decision to work a job, more than 60 percent said 7 or higher.
Said one participant: “I would warn [people] to be careful and one day get a traditional job.”
“I don’t personally see [freelancing] as a good career move,” replied another.
Women often charge less than men on Upwork
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An analysis of gig listings on Upwork revealed a roughly even split between men (153) and women (144) offering services in creative fields (e.g., writing, marketing, web development, design) in recent months. However, women are often charging less than men in most fields. Information technology has the widest disparity, with women charging an average of $28 an hour, while men charge an average of $63.73.
In the writing field, women charge an average of $75.44 an hour while men charge an average of $68.74. In web development, women charge an average of $54.37 an hour, while men charge $49.46.
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People charged the most for writing gigs
Unexpectedly, writing beat out other job categories like customer service, IT, web development, design/creative, and marketing for the highest amount charged on average, with an hourly pay of $72.89.
The highest-paying writing job listed, which was ghost writing and editing services, was $300/hr (which, in part, skewed the results). Most other writing jobs generally ranged from $30/hr to $150/hr. The higher-paying jobs tend to go toward professional writers and editors with many years of experience. The lowest hourly wage job were for writing, researching and proofreading professionals.
Customer service wages range from $10/hr to $145/hr. The lowest-paying customer service jobs are the most basic entry-level positions while the highest-paid jobs are account executives and brand strategists. On average, customer service fell far below its counterparts in hourly pay, with an average wage of $37/hr.
Design/creative service wages range from $18/hr to $94/hr. The lowest-paying design jobs are the starting jobs within design, while the highest paid jobs are experienced graphic designer professionals with those who have additional experience with 3D designs.
IT/Networking wages range from $12/hr to $160/hr. The lowest-paying IT job is given to the database administrator, while the highest-paying job is given to software testing employees, with years of experience. IT hourly wages were among the highest in our research.
Marketing hourly fees ranged from $13/hr to $150/hr. The lowest-paying job was copywriting specialist, while the highest was marketing consultant. Marketing hourly wages were also among the highest in our spreadsheet.
Web developing wages range from $12/hr to $125/hr. The lowest-paying job in this category belongs to a web developer, while the highest belongs to a data engineer. Web developing fell in the middle when it came to average hourly wage.