NEW OPPORTUNITIES Indian Freelancers Flood Online Jobs Market

For talented and skilled jobseekers, freelancing online has become a lucrative source of income Never mind the lacklustre job market in India. Don't worry about the antioutsourcing outcry in the US. And don't let slowdown and layoffs in the west weigh you down.  For talented and skilled Indians looking for work and income, there is a new job market that has opened up, is booming and also paying well.  The global online labour market is opening new doors. And Indians seem to be dominating the wave. Freelancer-.com says Indians comprise 38% of all users on its website. Over 1.2 million of three million plus users on www.freelancer.com come from India, making it the number one freelancer country on their website. "India is by far the biggest freelancing nation in the world," says Matt Barrie, CEO, Freelancer-.com.  It is the same story at www.oDesk-.com, a global online job market place that connects independent contractors to projects being posted by companies across the world. Of the total manhours of projects grabbed, India is second to Philippines on the website.  But the good news is that Indians are probably doing higher-end work — because their yield per hour is a lot higher. Of more than $78 million earned on oDesk in the first quarter of 2012, the company says the largest recipient was India that got 20-30% of the payments. The company's business from India has grown eight times since 2008. "This is the new hidden economy, beyond borders, where people work and go everyday," says Barrie. The trend is set to intensify, going forward. At a time when many economies, including the US and Europe, are dealing with slowdown and staring at uncertainties, MNCs are increasingly shy of hiring full-time employees.  Most are working on a two-pronged strategy to deal with talent requirement. Some are reaching out to independent workers through these online websites to get their one-off projects executed. And some are also leaning towards temp hiring to tide over staff shortages.  Temp industry in the US is booming — according the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, it added nearly 5,00,000 workers between June 2009 and 2011, representing more than 90% of the non-farm job growth in that period. oDesk.com chief executive officer Gary Swart says: "The opportunities are unlimited. All work that can be done in front of the computer can move online." He says at least one third of the global workforce could be hired online by 2020.  malini.goyal@timesgroup.com