6 Arguments for Allowing International Students to Freelance

1. Businesses Want Flexible Options

According to Forbes, research by Upwork found that in the future the demand for freelancing will increase, with almost half of hiring managers becoming more likely to hire under contract work since COVID-19 began.

“Businesses really find a lot of value in flexible talent in a variety of situations,” said Upwork’s Chief Economist Adam Ozimek. “This is one of those situations. Companies are having to pivot very quickly and to quickly adapt to remote work and having to change their businesses in a variety of ways. Some of them are trying more flexible talent and finding it works, especially in circumstances where you need to move quickly and grow and scale dynamically” (Pofeldt, 2020).

2. The Rise of Freelancing Marketplace Platforms

A report by Harvard Business School’s Managing the Future of Work Project and Boston Consulting Group’s Henderson Institute also found that digital talent platforms have increased the demand for freelance work. Such digital talent platforms have created a marketplace for high-skilled workers who can be hired on-demand to fit specific requirements by employers. In an ever-changing hiring playfield employers have turned to flexible options for hiring full-time employees and look for people who fit specific projects for a specific period of time.

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3. COVID has Changed the Workplace

An article by Uri Berliner for National Public Radio found that throughout 2020 the Americans that entered self-employment went up by 2 million, increasing the workforce that engages in freelancing to 36% of the working population. Throughout the COVID crisis, employers found themselves furloughing millions of full-time employees, often forcing them to turn to self-employment.

US freelancing jobs, however, lack benefits and health insurance which can create difficulties for those who are self-employed. Berliner adds that “Futurists have long predicted that America would become a free-agent nation, where workers offer their services independently, branding themselves to land gigs and deals as full-time permanent employment withers away” (Berliner, 2020).

4. People Want Flexibility Too

The UK also saw a rise of freelancers during the pandemic, with around a third of freelancers having started work at the beginning of March 2020. An article by Freelance UK highlights that a study by Upwork found that 66% of people who became freelancers throughout COVID-19 would not return to a traditional 9 to 5 job, mainly due to the freedom and flexibility that freelancing allows for (Freelance UK, n.d.).

5. Most Freelancers Would Stay Freelancing

People Per Hour surveyed 1,000 freelancers and found the following data of people who began freelancing throughout the first 12months of the COVID-19 pandemic:

Of those surveyed:

• Nearly 40% freelance full-time
• Nearly 30% freelance part-time
• Nearly 20% freelance alongside a permanent job
• 25% turned to freelancing due to loss of employment
• 10% turned to freelancing as a side hustle after being furloughed.
• 97% will continue freelancing in some form beyond the pandemic
• 40% will continue to freelance full-time.
• Nearly 20% will continue freelancing while returning to employment

6. Brexit will Increase the International Workforce with Restricted Visas

Research by Small Business Economics journal found that people who migrate to a country have similar interests to adapt to their new country, but visa restrictions affect their engagement with self-employment. Concluding that policies should seek to “boost migrant entrepreneurship” (Kone, Ruiz, Vargas-Silva, 13).

A significant proportion of EU students in the UK will soon be considered international students due to Brexit.

The analysis suggests that migrants coming from EU countries have a higher propensity to engage in self-employment compared to migrants from non-EU countries. This is the case regardless of reason for immigration, which suggests that a post-Brexit system that makes it overall more difficult for EU nationals to migrate to the UK could reduce the self-employment rate of the UK’s foreign-born population in the future” (13).

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