欢迎来到自由职业新时代

    越来越多的人认为，二十一世纪初叶堪称“美国自由职业时代”的开端，亦可以说是其回归之年。

    自由职业者求职网站Elance于今年9月调研了超过3,000名自由职业者后发布报告称，57%的受访者称收入在2012年出现上涨，67%的受访者预计2012年收入将会有所上涨。

    Elance网站首席执行官法比奥•罗萨蒂说，到2012年底，公司网站上发布的招聘自由职业者的工作岗位接近100万个，较2011年的65万个工作岗位有大幅上涨。他说：“各类公司发布的‘分包工作’数量创下了新纪录，而且通过这个渠道招聘了许多对口的自由职业者。”上述调查报告称，42%的雇主预计会在2013年招聘更多的自由职业者。

    罗塞蒂说，创意人员、技术人员、IT和程序员是自由职业市场上需求增长最快的岗位。创意人员需要具备多媒体制作技能，IT和程序员也常需要开发手机应用软件。罗塞蒂说，招聘市场对法务和财会自由职业者的需求也很旺盛。

    过去几年间，自由职业者的人数保持了相对稳定。据美国劳工统计局（the Bureau of Labor Statistics）的数据，2009年，有1,530万美国人自称自由职业者。2012年10月，这一数字为1,490万人。

    聘用自由职业者对雇主来说益处多多。首先便是成本的降低。企业无需为顾问或是临时工作人员提供医保、养老金和带薪假期，有时甚至连办公室都不用提供。

    Elance网站上有83%的雇主表示，雇用自由职业者最主要的动因就是完成工作的速度。这些公司称，很多情况下，自由职业者的专业技能和专注工作可以令项目得以更快地完成。罗塞蒂说，一旦自由职业者入职并了解了企业文化后，公司就能够逐渐培养起一支自由职业者员工队伍，能够又快又好地完成任务。

    《自由职业的国度》（Free Agent Nation）一书的作者丹尼尔•平克将最新兴起的自由职业浪潮归结为如下几个因素。首先，平克称“疲软的经济令雇主们不愿雇用全职员工”，而自由职业者却能“在合适的时间用合适的技能完成合适的工作”。

    这股浪潮的兴起还改变了雇主与雇员之间的社会契约关系。“裁员的现实，不仅是一次性的裁员而且还有挥之不去的裁员阴影，改变了雇主和雇员之间讨价还价的现状，”平克说。

    Elance网站称，21%的会员是因丢掉工作之后才走上了自由职业者的道路，还有40%的人是将自由职业的收入作为全职工作收入的补充。

    More and more, it seems the early 21st century will be marked as the beginning -- or return, as the case may be -- of the era of the American freelancer.

    A September survey of over 3,000 independent contractors conducted by Elance, a website that helps freelancers find work, reports that 57% of those surveyed reported an increase in 2012 income and 67% expect their income to rise in 2012.

    Fabio Rosati, CEO of Elance, says that his company's site will have posted nearly 1 million freelance jobs by the end of 2012, a substantial increase from 650,000 in 2011. "Businesses are posting a record number of 'fractional' jobs and hiring freelancers suited to do the work," he says. In Elance's survey, 42% of employers said they anticipate hiring more freelancers in 2013 than the previous year.

    Creative, technical, IT, and programming gigs are the fastest growing in the freelance market, according to Rosati. He says that these creative jobs often call for multimedia skills, and IT and programming often entail mobile app development. Rosati says that freelance legal and accounting workers are also in demand.

    The ranks of the self-employed have held relatively steady over the past few years. In 2009, 15.3 million Americans identified themselves as self-employed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In October 2012, 14.9 million U.S. workers were self-employed.

    Employers enjoy several benefits from hiring freelancers. For one, it keeps their costs down, since consultants or temporary workers don't receive health care and retirement benefits, vacation time, and many do not require office space.

    Eighty-three percent of Elance's employer clients cite speed as a major impetus to hiring freelancers. In many cases, these companies claim, projects are completed faster because freelancers bring special skills and can zero in on each job. Once a freelancer is brought on board and gets a sense of the culture at a company, firms often develop a steady cohort of independent contractors who perform work quickly, Rosati suggests.

    Daniel Pink, author of Free Agent Nation, attributes the recent rise in freelancers to several factors. For one, Pink says, the "dodgy economy has made employers loath to hire full-timers." Freelancers provide "the right talent for the right task at the right time," he says.

    The rise in hiring freelancing has also transformed the social contract between worker and employee. "The reality of downsizing -- not as a one-time occurrence but as an omnipresent possibility -- has altered the bargain," Pink says.

    Elance says 21% of its subscribers started to freelance after they were laid off from their jobs, while 40% started taking contract work to supplement income from full-time jobs.