The unemployment rate seems to be stuck at 7 percent. However, freelance work is seeing growth. Elance CEO Fabio Rosati discusses the trends he’s seeing.
Transcript:
choosing the just in time specialist. hiring on our side is up over 50% annually, and demand for s.t.e.m. skills which are science and math and research are up 150%. a huge surge. in other driving factors for this model and the adoption of freelancers is they can’t just find full-time employees with the appropriate skills. we talked a lot about the talent gap. we’re actually seeing that talent gap. if we could fill all those positions, these businesses would possibly hire full-time employees but they just can’t find them. it’s fascinating. every time the employment report comes through, the nonfarm payrolls number, there’s this question about the quality of the jobs that are being created. are they full time, are they paying benefits? are they highly skilled? are they manufacturing jobs? what would you say to people who worry that while you’re doing — i’m sure it’s a great siness — but in general, we’re not delivering the sort of jobs that even these very highly skilled people that you’re talking about might want. well, i think the issue is one of employability. the economy works on supply and demand. jobs are about having the right skills. the big mismatch we see is in supply and demand. with the right skills are getting more offers, highly sought after. if you have the right skill sets, you’re most likely getting multiple bids for you to join a particular company. we certainly see that in parts of our economy, like silicon valley and new york. if you have a certain kind of skill set, you’re actually in a very good position. at the same time, if you don’t have the right skill set, you’re experiencing the exact opposite. so it’s a story of feast and famine, depending what kind of skills you have. i’m sorry. we’re out of time, fabio. finally, if you could give a child advice as to what to studty to accelerate their career, what would it be, briefly, if you would? today i would focus you on technology, technical skills like software and engineering. or creative skills. be really good technically and be really good at creative. you can’t lose in either case. but i would also tell you, remember, the most technical skills have a short life span. you have to retrain. sure. fabio, great to see you. thank you very much. fabio rosati from the west coast. ceo of elance. simon, meet the millionaires