Minimum Wage Should Be Imposed – in Freelance
Many new freelancers do not immediately grasp the whole concept of the online job marketplace like Elance, oDesk and Guru. It is easy to think that these freelance sites offer offshore jobs where the new freelancer gets to pay a higher rate than the known prevailing rate that employed workers get. But this is not really the usual case.
I have just explained to a freelancer in oDesk that buyers mostly find providers who can do the job at reasonable rates. There can be clients who are prefer to hire an Indian freelancer for $1 per hour and there could also be other buyers who are willing to hire US-based freelancers for $5 per hour. This is indeed a fact to many freelancers – primarily because of the difference in each group’s standard of living. India has lower overhead on freelance jobs compared to US providers, whose standard of living is a lot higher. Freelance sites operate using the strategy used in stores, supermarkets, groceries, department stores and other businesses where selling products is involved. A buyer walks into a department store, perhaps to buy a pair of shoes. There could be many shoes to select from, but the buyer has a predetermined budget to settle upon. A buyer may find low-priced shoes that also reflects poor quality; later on the buyer finds an expensive pair with superior quality but is far outside of the range of his budget. Eventually the buyer decides to purchase an average pair with the expected durability and quality.
image credit to JD
It is also easy to forget that the online freelance job marketplace does not need to regulate the lowest hourly rate for the job: do you think you want to buy shoes that are regulated at the minimum amount?
Google Riches
November 21st, 2009 at 5:56 am #
This is a good article. I know freelancing has a factor in my decision making.
Jeremy
November 21st, 2009 at 4:00 pm #
You need to be careful what you invest your money and time into. You never know what could be a scam.
.-= Jeremy’s last blog ..What you Can Do to Make More Revenue With Google Adsense =-.