Freelancing used to be for the bold – people who weren’t afraid of non-steady income. Today, it’s quite commonplace for young people to be freelancers and the nature of work has made freelancing more viable than ever before. Of course, for those who are naturally more risk averse, being a freelancer might be a daunting thought but more millennials are drawn into the gig economy lifestyle due to its high flexibility.
In Malaysia, according to the World Bank, about 26 percent of the Malaysian workforce consists of freelancers and that number is growing, as more people are opting for more flexible working hours.
Flexibility remains the key driver in Southeast Asia countries like Malaysia as people today are more likely to be seeking flexible contract based-roles than traditional permanent full-time roles. It has also been reported that the Malaysian freelancing economy has grown by 31 percent and is the third largest freelancing market in the region.
Understanding that the industry is blooming, are Malaysians aware of the wages that these freelancers get on an hour basis?
According to a research conducted by Workana, an online platform that connects talented freelancers with companies, there were several key freelancing jobs that are high demand in the Malaysian market such Web and App Developers, Designers and Online Marketers.
The research further elaborates that Web and App developers earn the highest hourly pay per service . For instance, an iOS developer gets paid RM160 per hour while Android developers are getting RM130 hourly. A PHP and MySQL developer freelancers receives RM100 and RM80 respectively.
The other highly demanded jobs are Online Marketers which includes Facebook Ads Management, AdWords, Community Manager, Email Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
With the increasing popularity of Digital Marketing services, a freelance SEO consultant earns about RM120 per hour followed by FB Ads manager (RM120 per hour) and AdWords (RM100 per hour).
The third jobs in demand are designers as great designs can do a lot to help improve your marketing efforts, and it does more than just help your content stand out and look good. Companies are constantly looking for graphic designers and video editors to help them with the marketing materials. A freelance Graphic Designer and video editors earn about RM70 per hour.
Understanding that the gig economy freelancers are offered independence, flexibility in working hours and good wages, Workana foresees that there will be more freelancers coming into the Malaysian market as well as other demanded job skills in few years.
