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The latest Confidence Index from freelancer group IPSE and freelancer marketplace, PeoplePerHour, shows that not only is freelancers’ confidence in the wider economy stuck in deep negative territory; their confidence in their own business performance is low and their pay has slumped since last year.
After an unexpected boost at the end of 2018, freelancers’ pay slumped by 17 per cent in the first three months of 2019, and remained almost unchanged this quarter.
Freelancers are also finding less work than they were during the surprise surge at the end of last year. In Q4 2018, freelancers were on assignment 79 per cent of the time, but this fell to 75 per cent last quarter and has remained completely unchanged.
Deep negative
Confidence in the wider economy is also stuck in deep negative territory. Although freelancers’ confidence in the economy over the next three months rose slightly, from -36.3 to -27.4, they remain deeply pessimistic about the performance of the economy over the next 12 months (-38.0). One reason for the difference between the two scores could be the belief that there is likely to be some movement on Brexit soon.
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The long-term gloom is deepened by the fact that 70 per cent of freelancers predict their business costs will increase over the coming year.
Brexit
The main reason for this pervasive stagnation seems to be Brexit. Freelancers cite Brexit as the biggest factor holding back their business performance, closely followed by Government fiscal policy relating to freelancing. The third-most important negative factor was Government policy relating to hiring freelancers.
Ryan Barnett, IPSE’s Economic Policy Advisor, said: “This quarter, we find a freelance sector that is flatlining in the face of Brexit. Back at the end of 2018, Brexit uncertainty gave freelancers a boost as it drove clients to them instead of taking the risk of hiring permanent staff. This quarter, however, we are clearly well past that phase.
“The chaotic uncertainty of Brexit has now settled on freelancers. Confidence in business performance and in the wider economy is stuck in firmly negative territory. Pay, too, has dropped sharply from the Q4 2018 surge, as has the amount of work freelancers are getting.
“The level of prolonged and profound uncertainty we are experiencing is uncharted and dangerous territory for freelancers. It’s led to the sector flatlining across a range of measures. But there is still a risk that things could get worse.
“80 per cent of freelancers are opposed to a no-deal Brexit because they know the immense damage it could do to their businesses. What the freelance sector needs from government now, like the rest of business, is a way out of this chaos that does not lead to the disaster of a no-deal Brexit.”
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Susie Hughes © Shout99 2019
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