E-lancing, also known as e-labour, is the practice of taking

freelancing ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

work through online job-offers. E-lancing websites operate as hubs where employers place tasks, which freelancers from around the world bid for. Some e-lancing websites act as intermediaries for payment, paying the freelancer directly after work is completed, to mitigate the risk of non-payment. The Economist Newspaper Ltd, 2010. "Work in the digital age: a clouded future". ''The Economist'', Volume 395, Number 8682, May 15th-21st 2010. Roto Smeets, Weert (Netherlands). Employers posting work on these websites set the price they are willing to pay for the task proposed.

History

In 2012, 1.56 million people were freelancers in the United Kingdom, a rise of 11.9% since 2008. Sebastian Trenner of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

wrote in 2012 that online marketplaces were unlikely to produce a significant decrease in skilled unemployment.Trenner, Sebastian Conversely, Karsten Geis of

Empirica Capital Empirica Capital LLC was a hedge fund founded in 1999 by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in partnership with Mark Spitznagel, that used Taleb's black swan strategy. The firm closed in 2005 as Taleb took time off for health reasons. The investment strategy ...

wrote in 2014 that e-lancing would be a primary employer of the future, and that normal jobs will tend to disappear.Gareis, Karsten {{cite web, title=eLancing–The Future of Work?, url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228608164_eLancingThe_Future_of_Work, accessdate=23 October 2014, website=ResearchGate, date=24 September 2014 Notable e-lancing websites include

Fiverr Fiverr is a global online marketplace for freelance services. Fiverr’s platform connects freelancers (sellers) to people or businesses looking to hire (buyers). Listings on Fiverr are diverse and range from "get a well-designed business card" ...

Freelancer.com Freelancer is an Australian freelance marketplace website, which allows potential employers to post jobs that freelancers can then bid to complete. Founded in 2009, its headquarters is located in Sydney, Australia, though it also has offices in V ...

Guru.com Guru.com is a freelance marketplace. It allows companies to find freelance workers for commissioned work. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Guru was initially known as ''eMoonlighter.com''. History Guru Inc. was founded in 1999 in ...

, and

Upwork Upwork Global Inc., formerly Elance-oDesk, is an American freelancing platform headquartered in Santa Clara and San Francisco, California. The company was formed in 2013 as Elance-oDesk, after the merger of Elance Inc. and oDesk Corp. The merg ...

References

* Outsourcing Web 2.0 neologisms

History

See also

References