Elance records 90% more jobs for Philippine freelancers this year

Online outsourcing platform Elance is growing … fast. It estimates the the freelance market will reach $5 billion by 2015. It notes that Asia, and specifically the Philippines, is taking part in this growth. The company’s recent data shows a rapid increase in Philippine freelancers this year.

In June 2013, 96 percent more Filipino freelancers made a living from working online on Elance compared to the same month last year. As of the second quarter of this year, Elance reports more than 31,000 Filipinos signed up to Elance. In the same period, 90 percent more jobs were awarded to Filipino freelancers.

Ronald Cirujano, Elance Philippines country manager says its aim is to offer job opportunities to Filipinos, considering that the country has an official unemployment rate of about 7.5 percent. He adds:

Philippines remains one of the biggest markets for freelancers with businesses all over the world now hiring talented Filipino freelancers.

According to Elance, businesses based in the US, Australia, Canada, UK and other European countries top the list of countries who trust the skills of Philippine freelancers. Most of these hired freelancers are found to render services in administrative support, design, and multimedia categories.

Elance opened its office in the country in April this year. In addition, India, China, and Pakistan are the other Asian countries that join Elance’s list of the top 10 freelancer countries globally.

Aside from Elance, Freelancer is another online outsourcing marketplace that’s strengthening its presence in Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

(Editing by Steven Millward and Paul Bischoff)