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03-25-2012, 01:15 PM
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Lowengard is offline Lowengard
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Hi Derek

Good question. Seems to me you're wondering:
Who subscribes to TF why does he or she consider her/himself a freelancer?

But you also highlight some subsidiary points, based around the question of "what is a freelancer?"

I am not a programmer or developer: I am a writer, editor and consultant to very small businesses. I've been working for a long time and can suggest my interpretation of what you're seeing here.

First, though, what you call yourself, and whether you call yourself a "freelancer" or something else is fairly arbitrary. As I understand it, initially a freelancer was someone who worked for a business but was not a regular employee. "Freelance" as a term refers to mercenary soldiering. And the idea of hiring freelancers started, as far as I can tell, in departments that had recognizable peaks and troughs in work. Freelancers tended to be retirees looking for a little extra income, or people who had other obligations and did not want a full time job.

(Note: a freelancer may be a moonlighter, someone who takes an job in their discipline to work on outside of their regular job, but doesn't have to be. A moonlighter is always a freelancer, however.)

A few things have happened--socially and economically--in the past 20 or 30 years and particularly in the past 8 or 10, and these changes have had an effect on the freelance community such as it exists.

Starting probably with the 1970s recession, a number of businesses experimented with staff reductions in their secondary departments, and the use of freelancers on an "as needed" basis. But "permanent freelancers" began to appear in these firms--people who might be paid nominally more on a per-hour basis than they would earn if they were employees, but without any social benefits -- no holiday or vacation pay, no health insurance (if it were there) no pension contributions, no taxes taken out etc. The freelancer had essentially no workplace rights either. This was an enormous benefit to businesses--upwards of 20% per hiree in overhead and social benefits, no need to worry about unemployment insurance, workers comp, etc.

One response was the US government designation of Independent Contractor for these kinds of positions. IC is an umbrella term for businesses or people working for another business but who/which are not a bona fide employee of that firm. There are tests to determine if someone is an IC (one is you must bring your own tools) and to ensure that the business isn't just trying to avoid providing standard workplace protections.

Another expanded designation is that of "casual labor" --at least in business. Casual labor used to be the migrant workers, summer or Christmas help, etc., people who might come back year after year to the same job. This combined with the rise of internships--paid and unpaid--and the ways that these worker groups can be exploited have also led to revised descriptions. (You can find those definitions at the Bureau of Labor Statistics or Department of Labor websites.)

Second, perception that the number of business lawsuits are increasing has changed the employment landscape in many ways. People who might once have used the term "freelancer" to describe their work and who might have relied on the sole proprietorship model (no difference between yourself and your business, as you describe) turn to a more formal corporate structure to protect themselves from the possibility of lawsuits, or to give the impression that their firm is larger or fiercer than "sole prop" implies. In the '80s the US government developed new structures specifically for small and very small business owners (the LLC, the S-Corp, some expansion of what constitutes a Professional Corporation). I'm also finding that, when I work at someone else's site, I have to prove my general liability insurance covers me while I'm there.

A third point I'd make is the rise of the "plug and play" or "fake it til you make it" education models. Skill has become less important than dogged persistence. You can learn everything by yourself. This is in contrast to older traditions where, for example, an architecture school graduate might expect to spend the first 10-18 months of their first job erasing lines on plans--and listening and observing--people often believe they are experts when they are probably advanced beginners at best.

The 4th point is the changes brought by social media. If you've been hanging out here since '05 (I haven't), then you'll remember TF from days when the internet provided very different kinds of experiences and expectations than it does now. I have been teaching business management courses online since about '04. What my students expected from an online course in '05, and what even the marginally internet savvy expect now, in terms of interactivity, connections within and outside of my platform, is vastly different. We are victims of our own successes: at least monthly I'm invited to join some new site that will connect me to the people I want or need connections to.

And finally, the economy went south. Unemployment, though it's getting better, is still abysmal. Costs of things are still rising. The groups hardest-hit include adolescent and young adult males--a demographic that seems to be drawn, for a number of reasons, to web design, web programming, etc. as well. Casual work in these fields may seem to be less of a dead end than mowing lawns.

I've written this in relative haste, and, no doubt there are gaps in it. I suspect I didn't really answer your basic question either--just gave you reasons why things might be as they now are. So ask if you have questions (or want to argue a point, certainly). . .

Sarah

Thanked by:
DDS (03-27-2012)