Two salient features have marked the latest regional issue of Gigmetar, the contraction of the labour market and modest income growth. These changes have been taking place amidst substantial business uncertainty and numerous global challenges, such as the impact of artificial intelligence, restrictive economic policies, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and economic crisis.

Nevertheless, freelancers continue to account for a large proportion of the global workforce, with estimates ranging putting their numbers at anywhere from between 1 to 3 percent of total global employment to as much as 12 percent, as estimated in the latest World Bank study. Disruptive changes driven by information and communication technology have generated large-scale innovations that have in turn led to seismic shifts in work and qualifications, with companies relying on gig workers to acquire missing talents and skills and achieve substantial savings.

This Gigmetar regional edition aims to track the evolution of the digital work market in South-Eastern Europe (SEE), including Serbia and Romania, long major global sources of freelance labour. Recent statistics point to particularly favourable trends in Serbia, where the total income earned by freelancers is projected to grow by 19 percent in 2023.

The purpose of the Gigmetar project is to identify the general characteristics of the SEE gig work market and the similarities and differences between countries in the region, as well as to identify key regional trends and ongoing changes. The latest measurement suggests a trend contrary to developments previously registered by Gigmetar in the gig labour market, with the freelancer workforce suffering a major contraction, in contrast to the growth recorded in recent years.

The regional gig workforce has decreased by 23 percent. At 40 percent, the largest contraction was registered in Romania, while the smallest decline, of 11 percent, was seen in the Albanian gig labour market.

Despite the smaller number of freelancers registered on Upwork, the platform has cemented its regional dominance, now boasting 57.8 percent of the entire regional gig worker population.

On average, it was easier for new entrants to the gig workforce to find initial employment in EU member states (Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, and Romania).

The greatest increase in any occupation or country was seen with software dev and tech in Romania, which grew by 8.6 percent, whilst the largest contraction occurred in creative and multimedia in Serbia, where the gig workforce fell by 15.5 percent.

Women gig workers were less inclined to leave the digital labour market than their male peers, which drove the share of women in the freelancer workforce up to 37.4 percent.

Incomes grew at the modest pace of 3.2 percent on average, but the increase was greater in countries with higher average wages, which widened the pay gap across the region.

Upwork, Freelancer, and Guru were the leading global platforms in SEE, boasting 114,111 registered freelancers in the latest measurement, a decrease of 23 percent across the nine regional countries.

The number of gig workers has declined across all platforms and countries, with the fewest contraction seen in Albania (at 11 percent), whereas in Romania as many as 4 out of 10 freelancers active in the previous measurement have now left the market.

Nearly identical trends were recorded for the individual platforms. Labour supply has contracted by a substantial 52.5 percent on average on Freelancer, whereas Upwork registered a smaller decline of 10.4 percent at the regional level. Guru was the only platform to see growth, albeit at a modest 1.2 percent. Read more ...

Albania was the sole outlier, where both Guru and Upwork reported growth at 3.4 and 10.3 percent, respectively. Nevertheless, the large-scale contraction (at 51.5 percent) on Freelancer meant that, in aggregate, all three platforms contracted in this country as well.

These factors have altered the structure of the digital labour market. The uneven pace and differing outcomes of the changes across the various platforms have resulted in the major increase in the overall share of Upwork, which now accounts for 57.8 percent of the regional freelancer workforce, an increase of 8.6 percentage points (pp) relative to the previous measurement. Guru has also seen substantial growth (of 5.1pp) to reach a market share of 21.6 percent, whereas Freelancer has witnessed a fall of as much as 13.7pp, which has brought its share in the regional market down to 20.7 percent. This has made Freelancer the region’s least popular digital platform for the first time.

Multiple factors, however, may have affected the accuracy of these estimates. Firstly, there has been a change to the methodology of how gig workers are presented on the various platforms, and, secondly, the same gig workers may have had multiple profiles on different platforms. The latter issue is not as significant since platforms have an interest in presenting only active workers available to potential employers and therefore update their gig worker databases fairly regularly. As such, even though some workers have profiles open on more than one platform, this does not affect estimates of the actually available workforce, since all those workers are active.

The general characteristics of gig work markets – their geographical dispersion, occupations, gender balance, incomes, and associated distributions – were assessed against SEE’s major freelancer platform that accounts for 57.8 percent of all regional gig workers.

Serbia saw the largest contraction in its gig workforce (at 21.6 percent), although similar trends were also registered in Bulgaria (19.2 percent) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (18.1 percent). The decline was less pronounced but still extended into the double digits in a second group of countries, namely Croatia (13 percent), North Macedonia (11.9 percent), and Montenegro (11.4 percent). Lastly, the smallest contraction in the gig workforce was registered in Hungary (2.1 percent) and Romania (6.9 percent). However, whilst the Hungarian market was already relatively small to begin with, in Romania the decline was significant in terms of absolute numbers. Albania was the sole country that bucked the regional trend, with a major increase in its freelancer population (of 10.3 percent). Read more ...

Although the market did decline significantly, the magnitude of the contraction was insufficient to affect the relative regional importance of the countries. For instance, the Serbian market has remained the largest, accounting for 21.5 percent of the total regional gig workforce, notwithstanding the drop in its share (of 2.1pp). Conversely, Romania has now achieved near-parity with Serbia in terms of its freelancer population, as the country’s share of the gig worker population now stands at 20.4 percent. It was only in Albania that the growth of the gig workforce increased the regional significance of the local market: this country has now broken into third place, leaving behind North Macedonia and Bulgaria, which had boasted larger gig workforces in previous measurements.

In addition to absolute numbers of gig workers, the number of freelancers per 100,000 population is another metric that helps assess the relevance of particular markets and correct for differences in country size. These findings also reveal Albania was the only country to register growth, with its freelancer workforce per 100,000 population increasing by 30, whereas the remainder of the region contracted. The largest declines were identified in Serbia (where the number of gig workers fell by 45 per 100,000 population) and North Macedonia (42). Slightly less pronounced contractions occurred in Montenegro (28), Bosnia and Herzegovina (25), and Bulgaria (19), followed by Croatia (14), whilst Romania saw the smallest decline (5).

These trends did not affect the regional positions of the countries seen in the previous measurement, and, in spite of the significant decline in its gig workforce, Serbia has remained in fourth place. The sole exception was provided by Albania, which, thanks to the relatively large increase in its gig worker population, advanced in the rankings from 3rd to 2nd place with 297 freelancers per 100,000 population. Conversely, at 74 and 52 workers per 100,000 population, Romania and Hungary continued to have fairly modest gig workforces by this metric. No major changes were registered at the level of each individual country in spite of the large regional contraction, suggesting the overall trends moved in the same direction and at comparable pace.

The latest measurement found some changes with how workers were distributed by occupation. Here, two divergent trends were identified. Firstly, there has been a fairly large increase in the share of software dev and tech (at 3.2pp); professional services were the only other occupation to see a slight growth, whilst all others contracted. The decline was rather modest and similar across three areas, clerical and data entry, creative and multimedia, and sales and marketing support (at 0.6pp on average), with only writing and translation registering a more pronounced drop at 1.8pp.

At the time of the measurement, over 8,000 gig workers were registered on the largest platform, accounting for 17.6 percent of the region’s total freelancer population. This finding continues the growth trend seen throughout previous measurements, when this share ranged from 15.1 to 16.9 percent.

The gaps between countries in terms of freelancer activity have remained significant. Serbia’s gig worker population has remained the most active (with 23.2 percent of all registered freelancers actually working on assignments), with an increase of 1.1pp. Read more ...

The least active freelancer community was that of Albania, where only one in ten registered gig workers was engaged on projects. Interestingly, activity rates in the three EU member states of Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria stood at about 15 percent, with only Croatia standing out at 18.4 percent. Alongside Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia were the only countries where more than one-fifth of the freelancer workforce was active at the time of the measurement (with the figures standing at 22.8 and 20.3 percent, respectively).

A total of 26 out of 100 freelancers active at the time of this measurement were engaged on their first gig assignment, a finding identical to that of the previous survey. The only difference was that Hungary now led the field in new entrants, with 32 out of every 100 freelancers there working on their first gig. Conversely, Serbia registered the fewest new entrants, as only 19.5 percent of the gig workforce there active on their first project on the time of the measurement. Notably, EU member states (Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, and Romania) had on average more new workers than non-EU Western Balkan countries: in the former, new entrants accounted for 28.3 percent of all active freelancers, whilst in the latter the share stood at 25.9 percent.

The latest measurement revealed the share of female gig workers in the overall freelancer population has risen by 2.8pp to 37.4 percent. This major increase suggests women in South-Eastern Europe were less inclined to leave the digital labour market than their male peers. Especially notable was the fact that the trend was registered across all of the region’s countries. The upward swing was particularly noticeable in Bulgaria and Albania, where the female freelancer workforce grew by 4.4pp, and the least apparent in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the increase amounted to 0.9 and 1pp, respectively. The growth rate stood at above 2pp in all other SEE countries.

The already fairly high share of women in the gig workforce, coupled with their lower likelihood of abandoning freelance work, led to women accounting for as many as 48.6 percent of all gig workers in Albania. This ratio has made the country one of the best gender-balanced markets, comparable with North America and significantly ahead of other global regions. Apart from Albania, the only other country where women accounted for more than 40 percent of the gig workforce was North Macedonia (at 41.7 percent), whereas women freelancers were the least numerous in Bosnia and Herzegovina (30.7 percent), Hungary (33.5 percent), and Serbia (33.7 percent). In all remaining regional countries, women accounted for between 35 and 40 percent of all gig workers. Read more ...

Competition in the digital labour market has altered the gender distribution in some occupations, as women went from being under-represented in all occupations to outnumbering men in two. In professional services, women outnumbered men by 10 percent, whilst in clerical and data entry the figure was 11.9 percent. The numbers were equal in writing and translation, whereas men greatly outnumbered women in the remaining three occupations. The gap was at its narrowest in sales and marketing support, with 122 men for every 100 women, whereas in the final two occupations the differences were much more pronounced: in creative and multimedia men outnumbered women by a factor of 1.8, and in software dev and tech by a factor of 5.1. Nevertheless, all regional trends pointed in the same direction, with women freelancers becoming more numerous in all occupations across the board.

The countries differed somewhat by gender balances in each occupation. In the latest measurement, apart from Albania (unchanged from the previous survey), Romania and North Macedonia also saw growth of women freelancers in professional services. In all other markets, the gender structure was either virtually identical, such as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or the differences were slight, as in the remaining countries. Women outnumbered men in clerical and data entry in all countries except North Macedonia, where the numbers were nearly equal, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, where men were ahead by 21.4 percent. The latest measurement also confirmed the findings of previous surveys for creative and multimedia, which was found to be a male-dominated occupation in all countries. Here, the greatest gap was registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia, where men outnumbered women by a factor of 2.7, 2.1, and 2, respectively. Sales and marketing support was also primarily a male occupation in most countries, excepting Albania, where women outnumbered men by 52 percent, and in Montenegro, where both genders were equally represented. However, a wide gender gap persisted in software dev and tech. The greatest differences in this occupation were registered in Croatia and Hungary, where men outnumbered women by a factor of 8.8 and 7.7, respectively. Conversely, the genders were the most closely balanced in Albania, with men more numerous by a factor of 2.5, and to a lesser extent in North Macedonia, where men outnumbered women by a factor of 3.6. In most countries, women had an edge over men in writing and translation, although the gaps were moderate. The sole exceptions here were Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bulgaria, where men outnumbered women by 50.5, 22.1, and 20.6 percent, respectively.

The latest measurement found hourly rates continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace. The growth rate has halved relative to six months ago, with regional hourly rates increasing by an average of 3.2 percent. Local developments were uneven, as Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina saw hourly rates fall by 0.9 and 0.4 percent, respectively, compared to the previous survey, whereas other countries witnessed moderate gains, the highest in Montenegro (at 7.4 percent) and Hungary (6.1 percent), and the lowest in Serbia (3 percent). These earnings trends have widened the gap between the various countries, as hourly rates grew the most in those markets that already had higher average incomes. Croatian hourly rates have remained the highest (at US$ 25.1), whilst Macedonia had the lowest rates (at US$ 18).

Both men’s and women’s hourly rates have grown at nearly identical rates, and, as a result, the gender income gap has remained virtually unchanged: women gig workers were able to earn on average 86.4 percent of the rates commanded by their male peers.Read more ...

The differences, however, were smaller than the global average, where women’s hourly rates were lower by one-fifth (at 81.8%). In most countries, men’s hourly rates have grown faster than those of women, with the exception of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, where women’s incomes outpaced that of men. Montenegro and Albania also saw fairly rapid increases in hourly rates commanded by women, at 9.7 and 9 percent, respectively. Men’s hourly rates registered the largest increases in Hungary (7.7 percent) and Montenegro (7.3 percent). Bulgaria saw a decline in women’s hourly rates (by 3.4 percent), whilst, conversely, Bosnia and Herzegovina registered a drop in the income of men freelancers (of 0.7 percent)

In contrast to the previous measurement, when men’s and women’s wages across the region had converged, in the latest survey convergence was recorded only in countries that had also seen high growth in women freelancers’ hourly rates. In Albania, where these trends were at their most pronounced, the gap was closed by 7.5pp, making this country the most egalitarian, with women gig workers earning on average as much as 97.2 percent of male freelancers’ income. By contrast, Croatia registered the widest wage gap, as there a woman gig worker was able to command no more than 81.3 percent of what a male peer could.

Gigmetar^TM is the first instrument that describes the geography of digital work in Serbia and the region in terms of gender, income, and most common occupations. It is a result of the efforts made by the Public Policy Research Centre (CENTAR) to shed more light on the work on online platforms.

The Public Policy Research Centre (CENTAR) is a team of innovative researchers and digital enthusiasts investigating the future of work and development of the digital economy in Serbia and South-East Europe.

Contact: gigmetar@publicpolicy.rs