Freelancing job: An innovative way to empower millions of vulnerable in Bangladesh

In recent years, freelance jobs have become one of the most popular career choices. Instead of working inbound and stiff nine to five routine, people are becoming more interested in working in the shifts of their own choice. On the plus side, freelance workers can contribute versatility and mobility to any organization. That’s why more and more jobs are getting freelanced. And the effects are real in First World Countries already. For example, as of 2017, more than 50% of millennials are already working freelance (Source: https://www.upwork.com/press/2017/10/17/freelancing-in-america-2017/). and contributed 1.5 trillion (Source: https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/adquiro-content-prod/documents/Infographic_UP-URL_2040x1180.pdf), which is a significant rise from 2016 (Source: https://www.upwork.com/press/2016/10/06/freelancing-in-america-2016/) and the number is increasing every year Neighbor Country India has the highest percentage (24%) of freelance workers their contribution to their economy is almost $400 billion as of 2017 (Source: http://blog.payoneer.com/freelancers/industry-tips-fl/freelancing-india-work). With the increment of various virtual industries and low-cost labor, Freelance working has become one of the staples in sectors like IT, Administration and Assistance, Designing, Data Analysis and Mining and so many more. So, it can be said that the overall virtualization of the technology will definitely contribute to the increment of freelancers all over the world.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

As of May 2017, Bangladesh has almost 2.6 million unemployed working force in which 28 million people are in the age group between 15 to 29 (Source: The daily Star May 28, 2017) with an unemployment rate of 4.20 (Source: https://tradingeconomics.com/bangladesh/unemployment-rate). With these numbers, it can be easily said that youth of Bangladesh is certainly having a tough time to cope with. The primary reason for this unemployment can be seen with the rapid population growth which contributed to the addition to the already large labor force (Source: https://www.scribd.com/document/96384136/Causes-of-Unemployment-in-Bangladesh). Another significant issue is the lower rate of investment and growth of industry in our country. Though the Private sector creates more job than the Public sector, yet the increment is lower than usual because the opportunity for investment in the Private sector is marginally slower than usual (Source: The daily Star May 28, 2017).
Unemployment has already put a great pressure on these large numbers of youths. Along with the social pressure of becoming stable and dependent and able to start their own family, the youth of the 1990s and 2000s are already getting a lesser amount of time with a greater competition to take on. In this dire moment, so many people are looking for alternative sources of earning.
That’s when Freelancing comes as a savior. Bangladesh is also one of the leading countries when the question comes on freelance working. Almost 16% global population is from Bangladesh and every single year, the number is increasing (Source: https://blog.payoneer.com/freelancers/industry-tips-fl/6-countries-capitals-freelancing/). Also, Government is trying to popularize Freelancing as a job sector for the youth. Projects like SEIP, LEDP, LICT has been taken by the ICT Division of Bangladesh Government in order to make young people more interested with the fact that, they can earn more while sitting in the home and represent Bangladesh in the Global stage. These factors are making freelancing more and more popular. More people are joining to the sites like Upwork, Freelancer.com for a solid and steady career.