Freelance Economy: The boom recorded during COVID-19

Earlier this year, freelancers worldwide found themselves impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused countries to shut down and forced company employees to work entirely remotely. With this in mind, we set out to understand how COVID-19 had impacted the freelance economy and what global freelancers expected to see happen in both the long and short term 

In its new report, Freelancing in 2020: An Explosion of Possibilities,Payoneer, a internationally recognized payment firm, reported that Pakistan’s freelance economy has increased significantly. 

The report especially praises the e-Rozgaar Program of the Punjab IT Board as a key contributor in this respect. During COVID-19 lockdown, E-Rozgaar’s new batch of trainees posted the highest ever batch revenue earning over PKR 25 million in 3 months. PITB Chairman Azfar Manzoor said e-Rozgaar plays a crucial role in curbing youth unemployment. 

E-Rozgaar is an initiative of the Punjab government to economically empower young people while seeking to create online work opportunities. The total income of Pakistan’s independent economy has risen from 47 percent to 69 percent, according to Payoneer’s latest survey. 

For technical, content marketing and advertisement and creative design freelance training, applications for a new period of the e-Rozgaar Program are invited. 

Following the popularity of the online training workshops, the initiative now provides both online and physical training in 36 Punjab districts. 

After and after 3 months of free training, applicants can choose any mode of training according to their skill set and apply for free to earn a decent livelihood from the ease of home. The eligibility requirements for the programme include residency in Punjab, maximum age: 35 years, schooling of at least 16 years and unemployment at present. 

Once again, freelancing has recovered quickly and is seeing a real boom in many cases, as both young professionals and corporations turn to this style of operation in greater numbers.