Based on data from over a million projects submitted on the site, Freelancer.com, the largest crowdsourcing and freelancing marketplace in the world by number of users and jobs posted, today released the fastest-growing online jobs for 2023.
According to the research, there is a strong demand for workers with experience creating video content. In 2023, videography was the second-fastest growing skill. Jobs in video production and editing were the fastest growing, with significant growth occurring in both fields. TikTok and YouTube Video Editing were two other video-related careers that made the list of the top 25 fastest-expanding jobs on Freelancer.com for 2023.
A growth in brands involving video in their marketing endeavors is driving this need. Wyzowl reports that 88% of marketers consider video content marketing to be significant to their methodology, and 85% of them mean to raise their video spending by 2024.
The requirement for aptitude in photograph handling and photography was one more figure in the ascent of business. Over the year, Adobe Lightroom projects had the largest percentage growth, with 3,625 more jobs overall being created in the Photography expertise.
Potential pay: In the US, freelancers can charge up to $300 per hour for photography talents, $200 per hour for videography and editing, and $160 per hour for TikTok content creation.
Rank | Freelance Skill | 2022 | 2023 | Change |
1 | Adobe Lightroom | 2,274 | 3,841 | 68.9% |
2 | Videography | 10,984 | 16,885 | 53.7% |
3 | User Interface / IA Design | 8,126 | 12,243 | 50.7% |
4 | Photography | 8,094 | 11,719 | 44.8% |
5 | Administrative Support | 2,030 | 2,916 | 43.7% |
6 | Manufacturing Design | 1,184 | 1,652 | 39.5% |
7 | Fiction Writing | 1,002 | 1,364 | 36.1% |
8 | Video Production | 19,096 | 25,704 | 34.6% |
9 | Video Editing | 25,400 | 33,131 | 30.4% |
10 | Market Research | 4,211 | 5,353 | 27.1% |
Developments in generative AI are transforming how companies market and communicate with each other. A change away from reliance on antiquated methods of internet marketing, such as blog posts and articles, and toward visual, highly-produced material is seen in the surge in demand for photography and video services. According to Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer.com, “We anticipate this trend to continue and are already seeing signs of video and marketing categories continuing to increase in 2024.”
Looking at the declining skill sets of 2023 is one way to see how organizations are moving away from written material and toward video. In 2023, there were 1,648 jobs listed on Freelancer.com for blog writing, down from 4,872 jobs in 2023, ranking 13th in terms of the most declining jobs. Though some could hypothesize that the advent of generative AI tools is affecting writing, the only writing ability associated with the decline in employment was blog writing. Indeed, among the fastest-increasing jobs of the year were writing-related professions like fiction writing (up 36.1%), creative writing (up 18.8%), and Microsoft Word (up 16.8%).
AI cannot yet fully replace creativity. Nevertheless, given the model scale, this might surface. We made this statement in the middle of the year, when we observed an increase in creative writing positions in the second quarter of 2023, and it holds in 2024. Our freelancers are climbing the stack, as we can see. They are becoming editors instead of just blog writers. Directors replacing illustrators alone. In the end, artificial intelligence is developing our talent while also increasing productivity and efficiency, said Barrie.
Top Freelance Jobs
More than a quarter of a million projects in 2023 required graphic design expertise, making it the most well-known job. For over a decade, graphic design has reliably been the most well-known job category on Freelancer.com. Because of the high requirement for graphic design services, for example, website design, logo design, icon design, and other related services, graphic design jobs are additionally the best way for new freelancers to get everything rolling in the field.
Rank | Freelance Skill | Total Jobs in 2023 |
1 | Graphic Design | 259,476 |
2 | Photoshop | 164,970 |
3 | PHP | 164,359 |
4 | Website Design | 144,780 |
5 | Logo Design | 140,994 |
Best High Paying Skills Per Hour on Freelancer.com/ 2023
The top positions for the highest paying skills per hour on the platform for 2023 were occupied by occupations in marketing, photography, and video. These categories are also the most in-demand for the year, which is consistent with these abilities paying the highest salaries.
Rank | Skill | USD/Hour |
1 | Branding | $ 74 |
2 | Marketing Strategy | $ 68 |
3 | Photo Retouching | $ 64 |
4 | Voice Over | $ 61 |
5 | Explainer Videos | $ 61 |
Best High Paid Jobs per Project on Freelancer.com/ 2023
Internet marketing ranks first when it comes to employment paid per project, followed by data entry, graphic design, website design, and video services.
Rank | Skill | USD/Project |
1 | Internet Marketing | $ 1,738 |
2 | Website Design | $ 1,271 |
3 | Graphic Design | $ 968 |
4 | Data Entry | $ 828 |
5 | Video Services | $ 760 |
Freelancer Fast 50
The main overall indicator of online job progress across industries, innovation, products, and businesses is the Freelancer Fast 50 index. From January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023, 1,122,000 jobs were posted on the Freelancer.
2023 Growing Skills
Rank | Freelance Skill | 2022 | 2023 | Change |
1 | Adobe Lightroom | 2,274 | 3,841 | 68.9% |
2 | Videography | 10,984 | 16,885 | 53.7% |
3 | User Interface / IA Design | 8,126 | 12,243 | 50.7% |
4 | Photography | 8,094 | 11,719 | 44.8% |
5 | Administrative Support | 2,030 | 2,916 | 43.7% |
6 | Manufacturing Design | 1,184 | 1,652 | 39.5% |
7 | Fiction Writing | 1,002 | 1,364 | 36.1% |
8 | Video Production | 19,096 | 25,704 | 34.6% |
9 | Video Editing | 25,400 | 33,131 | 30.4% |
10 | Market Research | 4,211 | 5,353 | 27.1% |
11 | T-Shirt Design | 6,303 | 7,982 | 26.6% |
12 | Canva | 2,068 | 2,554 | 23.5% |
13 | WordPress Plugin | 1,023 | 1,263 | 23.5% |
14 | Search Engine Marketing | 7,842 | 9,675 | 23.4% |
15 | YouTube Video Editing | 1,808 | 2,208 | 22.1% |
16 | Corporate Identity | 11,823 | 14,321 | 21.1% |
17 | Poster Design | 3,012 | 3,625 | 20.3% |
18 | Motion Graphics | 1,319 | 1,586 | 20.2% |
19 | Icon Design | 3,354 | 4,003 | 19.4% |
20 | Creative Writing | 9,415 | 11,182 | 18.8% |
21 | Sales | 10,813 | 12,775 | 18.1% |
22 | Drawing Artist | 1,279 | 1,507 | 17.8% |
23 | Local Job | 8,983 | 10,582 | 17.8% |
24 | Microsoft Word | 14,751 | 17,235 | 16.8% |
25 | TikTok | 1,329 | 1,537 | 15.7% |
2023 Falling Skills
Rank | Freelance Skill | 2022 | 2023 | Change |
1 | Non-fungible Tokens (NFT) | 5,443 | 709 | -87.0% |
2 | Binance Smart Chain | 1,057 | 233 | -78.0% |
3 | Smart Contracts | 4,687 | 1,106 | -76.4% |
4 | Solidity | 4,498 | 1,141 | -74.6% |
5 | Swedish Translator | 1,004 | 260 | -74.1% |
6 | Ethereum | 4,269 | 1,130 | -73.5% |
7 | Bitcoin | 2,641 | 740 | -72.0% |
8 | Blockchain | 12,297 | 3,485 | -71.7% |
9 | Web3.js | 2,301 | 722 | -68.6% |
10 | Academic Research | 2,118 | 710 | -66.5% |
11 | Blog Install | 1,261 | 423 | -66.5% |
12 | 2D Animation Explainer Video | 1,536 | 516 | -66.4% |
13 | Blog Writing | 4,872 | 1,648 | -66.2% |
14 | Vectorization | 1,070 | 365 | -65.9% |
15 | Discord | 1,216 | 421 | -65.4% |
16 | Adobe XD | 1,751 | 676 | -61.4% |
17 | Biology | 1,201 | 475 | -60.5% |
18 | 3D Model Maker | 1,266 | 501 | -60.4% |
19 | Animated Video Development | 1,353 | 539 | -60.2% |
20 | Computer Science | 1,936 | 778 | -59.8% |
21 | Cryptography | 1,027 | 417 | -59.4% |
22 | .NET Core | 2,021 | 830 | -58.9% |
23 | Academic Writing | 7,235 | 3,036 | -58.0% |
24 | Cryptocurrency | 3,878 | 1,634 | -57.9% |
25 | CSS3 | 2,702 | 1,148 | -57.5% |