Freelance

Remote work in Russia

• Remote work in Russia

2023: Revenues of Russian freelancers for the year increased by 63%

By October 2023, the average monthly income of a freelancer who receives payment in rubles amounted to 49.5 thousand rubles, which is 63% more than a year earlier, when the indicator was measured at 30.4 thousand rubles. Such data is the founder of the service for secure transactions between companies and freelancers Solar Staff Pavel Shinkarenko.

This is an average measure: the cost of services varies depending on the specialization of the freelancer. For example, cybersecurity specialists receive on average more than 300 thousand rubles a month, and designers - 86 thousand rubles a month, - said Shinkarenko in a conversation with RTVI.

The average monthly income of a freelancer who receives payment in rubles amounted to 49.5 thousand rubles

The income of freelancers who earn in foreign currency, according to Pavel Shinkarenko, in ruble terms increased by 24% - from 88 thousand to 109 thousand rubles. The founder of Solar Staff noted that the share of freelancers working for Russian companies over the year decreased from 73% to 69%.

There are still significantly more freelancers receiving orders from Russia than those who work with foreign customers. But even here there is an increase - from 27% in 2022 to 31% in 2023, - said

The growth is due to the fact that freelancers who relocated in 2022 began to gradually enter local markets. According to him, it takes time to adapt in a new country, so many project performers continued to work for Russian customers even after leaving.

Freelancers in Russia are earning more and more against the background of how employers are increasingly practicing the format of remote work. According to a joint study by hh.ru and Technocracy, in September 2023, about 40% of vacancies in the IT sector were in remote work. The trend was confirmed in Superjob: the number of vacancies for IT specialists at a remote location increased to 35% in October 2023 compared to October 2021, when they accounted for up to 22%.^[1]

2022

The number of self-employed freelancers in Russia has grown 6 times in 2 years

The number of self-employed freelancers by January 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 increased 6 times, and the number of freelancers working in the status of an individual remained high - about 50% of the total number of Russian freelancers. Individual entrepreneurs providing services as freelancers are the least, but there is also an increase (+ 70%). This is stated in a study that was announced at the end of June 2023 at Solar Staff (specializing in providing secure transactions between companies and freelancers).

According to the report, biusiness most often cooperates with freelancers in the fields of mass media, education, e-commerce, retail, finance, advertising, IT, as well as industry. In self-employed status, most people are tutors in different disciplines. Individual entrepreneurs more choose specialists who provide related services, including content makers, developers, etc.

As noted in Solar Staff, after the relocation, many specialists continue to carry out projects for Russian customers, working through the tax status of self-employed. This makes it easier to find the right frames and speeds up the creation of projects, the researchers add.

Market participants who took part in the study also suggest that more freelancers will choose self-employment as a way to legalize income, and over time, the income ceiling may be raised above the current 2.4 million per year.

The study analyzed more than 100 Solar Staff customer companies that regularly make payments to freelancers. This is medium and large business in the segments of ecom, education, industry, advertising, mass media, IT, etc.

How many companies work with freelancers in different tax statuses

Russian freelancers brought 6.8 times more money to foreign accounts

At the end of 2022, Russian freelancers brought abroad 6.8 times more money than in 2021. This is evidenced by the data of the service for settlements with freelance employees Solar Staff, which were released in mid-February 2023.

The company analyzed transactions between its users who, when registering on the platform, indicated Russia as their country of residence. In 2021, there were 89,000, in 2022 - 99,000. This audience intersects by 40%. Most often, in 2022, money was withdrawn to bank cards:

• Georgia - about 100 million rubles, an increase of 5325%;
• Kazakhstan - 46.3 million rubles against 1.3 million rubles in 2021;
• Armenia - 43.3 million rubles against 1.5 a year earlier.

Russians brought abroad a record amount of funds during the calculation

The fourth and fifth places in terms of translations are occupied by Turkey and Uzbekistan, writes Forbes, without specifying the amount of transfers to these countries. Solar Staff reported that most of the money was withdrawn by programmers, webmasters, project managers, bloggers and marketers.

In total, in 2021, all Russian users of the service brought 27.2 million rubles to foreign cards, in 2022 - 434.7 million rubles. Taking into account the new users of Solar Staff, the volume of transfers increased 16 times year-on-year, the company calculated.

A large wave of departures of Russians, including freelancers, occurred in September 2022 after the announcement of partial mobilization. According to the FSB, the number of trips of Russians to Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia and Abkhazia from July to September became a record in five years - 9.7 million.

The Central Bank said that the Russians in 2022 brought 4 trillion rubles to accounts in foreign banks - this is a record for the entire time of calculations (since 2018). In December 2022, Russians transferred 459.2 billion rubles abroad, and the maximum for the year was recorded in November, when 561.5 billion rubles were transferred to accounts in foreign banks.^[2]

2020: Russia entered the top ten countries in terms of freelance revenue with an indicator of $41 billion

The volume of the global freelance market in 2020 reached $6.54 trillion. Most of the revenue ($3.76 trillion) fell on civilian, $1.13 trillion - on seasonal and $705 billion - on temporary workers. Such data are provided by PwC analysts.

In terms of Russia revenue, freelancers got into the top 10 with an indicator of $41 billion. Leading (USA more than $1 trillion), (India $680 billion), (Canada $130 billion) and (Great Britain $100 billion). The top ten also included,,, and. Philippines Bangladesh Romania Ukraine Pakistan

At the same time, Russia was among the five states with the largest number of freelancers. By the end of 2020, 14 million people chose this form of employment in the Russian Federation against 2.1 million in the UK, 2.9 million in Canada, 15 million in India and 56.7 million in the United States.

For comparison: in 2014, there were 3 million freelancers in Russia, and in 2018 their total revenue was estimated at $33 billion.

According to Mikhail Magrilov, partner, project manager at PwC Freelancer Marketplace, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in 2020 only indirectly affected the development of freelance in Russia.

The pandemic affected, first of all, the transition to a remote format of work. Freelance "touched on the tangent," as a result of the two "but" freelance for the internal customer - "not our employee" and "does not sit nearby" - the second ceased to be a problem, - said Magrilov.

According to a PwC study, 13% of economically active Russians over 18 have additional sources of income related to freelance work. Almost two-thirds of Russian freelancers earn no more than 30 thousand rubles. per month. Most are under 45, but the average age continues to rise.

According to PwC forecasts, the CAGR of the global freelance market until 2025 will be 16%, and the market itself will grow to $13.84 trillion.^[3]

Notes