The changing dynamic of this tale of two workforces is not simply a US-market phenomenon. In the UK, the freelancing community is now the fastest growing segment of the country’s ‘self-employed’ industry and was estimated to contribute some £119bn ($160bn) to the country’s economy – a near ten percent rise year-on-year.
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Much of this growth can be put down to the rise of the Gig or Shared economy – a term that freelancers themselves don’t like – but there are other global consolidation factors at play that are driving the creation of this on-demand workforce.
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Take Field Engineer’s own sector – the telco market. Recent years have been characterized by a number of high profile mergers and acquisitions among the vendor and operator communities. While each could be said to have been influenced by a need to achieve economies of scale, they were also driven by the requirement to consolidate global positions and open up new markets.
freelance market