Five emerging trends for 2014
A recent Freelancer.com study revealed the top business trends that are driving online employment for 2014. For the first quarter, 270,000 jobs were analyzed in order to provide insight into the global business ecosystem.
Here are five of the most important trends and what they mean for business:
1. Mobile developers are putting Android first
In 2013, the number of Android jobs outweighed iPhone for the first time and businesses are looking to maintain that trend. Android has seen a 33.9% increase in jobs versus iPhone’s 32.0% While the iPhone still has a foothold in the developed world, Android is rapidly growing and expanding.
This could be largely due to the fact that Android handset sales in Asia are reportedly growing 5% month-on-month. iPhone tried to address this issues with the lower-cost iPhone 5C, but it was not very effective. What this means is, app developers should focus more attention on their Android efforts, rather than their iOS, if this trend continues to hold true.
2. Mobile dev jobs have skyrocketed
Largely due to the success of mobile apps like Candy Crush and Flappy Bird, mobile phone jobs have skyrocketed. Mobile phone jobs were up 35.3% King.com’s Candy Crush app saw an amazing growth, making a whopping $1.9 billion in revenue.
The developer of Flappy Bird, Dong Nguyen, made claims he was bringing in more than $50k a day in advertising revenue. Again, this suggests you should focus on your mobile efforts, whether that is app development, or simply advertising through a popular mobile platform; more and more people are engaging with mobile games, you need to use this to your advantage.
3. Content writing jobs also on the rise
This quarter saw a very strong rebound in content writing related jobs. Ghostwriting rose 41.5% and copywriting 17.7%, suggesting that businesses have rediscovered the value of having freelancers to produce high quality content on a regular basis. It also suggests that while the world may have done digital, there is still a great deal of value to be placed on the written word, so try not to be so quick to dismiss the possibility that a freelance writer could bring something new to your table.
4. Financial service jobs increasing in number
Finally, BPO shows strong growth as businesses continue to strip the fat. As businesses increase their freelancing services, they have also realized the value of increasing other areas as well. Accounting has risen 26.5% and business analysis by 15.8%. Sales jobs have risen 20.5% and lead by 17.7%. Even virtual assistant jobs have increased by 13.3% due to an increased focus on technology.
