With the arrival of digitalization, many developing countries like Bangladesh are focusing on the digital economy. Digitization of a country’s economy not only drives innovation in its industry, it also promotes domestic employment opportunities, enabling rapid economic growth. In search of cost and risk reduction, many large corporations from developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia are turning to IT outsourcing from various countries including Bangladesh, which is taking Bangladesh’s freelancing sector one step further. Bangladesh is moving fast due to global digitalization and technological development. Bangladesh is now becoming one of the most important countries in the world in digital outsourcing. According to the ‘Digital Economy Report-2019’ of UNCTAD, the United Nations agency for trade and development, there are about 6.5 lakh freelancers working in the global sector, earning more than 100 million dollar in foreign remittance every year. Economic digitization of a country not only enhances the innovation of goods and services, but also creates huge employment in the domestic market and boosts economic growth.
Advantages of Freelancing
freelancing includes all types of work like computer programming, web design, audit making, Search engine optimisation etc. It has created a lot of opportunities for people in emerging markets. Asia is constantly taking the leading position in the field of outsourcing around the world. Bangladeshi freelancers have a special role here. The demand for freelancers is currently very high. The main reason behind it is the amount of opportunities in this sector is much higher. There are many benefits of freelancing. Especially the range of customer and work is very wide. It is possible to work in the world market, there is no suffering in the workplace. The biggest advantage is that freelancers do not have to go to the office facing hours of traffic jams in crowded cities like Dhaka. There is no travel cost or separate meal cost. New job market has been created through freelancing, adding a lot of opportunities. Now the outsourcing market is the largest in Asia. There is an opportunity to earn a good income from here to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Due to the rapid digitalization of Bangladesh, internet facilities in the city, public-private campaigns, the freelancing sector is slowly becoming known and popular with everyone. The number of freelancers in Bangladesh is increasing day by day.
Bangladesh’s Potential
According to the research report of World Vision Bangladesh, 1 out of every 10 people are unemployed among 4 crore 40 lakh youth. Every year, thousands of university graduate students are becoming unemployed for not getting the job they want. As a result, the number of educated unemployed is increasing day by day. However, there are many opportunities that have been created easily through freelancing training. The article, published on the World Economic Forum’s website, hopes that this will not only ensure their livelihood, but also make them able to bring a lot of foreign exchange in the country which will serve as the economic foundation of the ‘New Bangladesh’.
Freelancing is a unique opportunity for the Bangladeshi youth as the market for freelancing is growing every day and no previous experience is required for the job. It is possible to earn in this sector in a few days with training.
The Contribution and Importance of Freelancing
The contribution of freelancers to the country’s economy in the last few years is remarkable. A significant portion of the country’s annual income comes from their work. According to the Bangladesh Department of Information Technology, freelancers earn 100 million dollar a year. Bangladesh has been able to create an important position in the world of outsourcing market due to low labor costs. A study by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), Department of Multidisciplinary Research and Teaching at Oxford University, found that Bangladesh is now the second largest country in the world in terms of online labor supply. The number of freelancers in Bangladesh is 16 percent in the world. According to Forbes, Bangladesh is one of the top 10 countries in terms of income from freelancing. Bangladesh ranks eighth in freelancing income and Bangladesh’s growth is 26 percent. Outsourcing has a market of one trillion US dollars a year in the world. Although the income from this sector in Bangladesh is 1 billion, there is a possibility of 5 billion dollars in upcoming days. But to meet this 5 billion dollar revenue target, the number of freelancers needs to increased by five times. In that case both men and women have to contribute to this sector.
Bangladesh, a country with a large population of youth, is one of the few countries in Asia. About 65% of its 163 million people are under the age of 25. This huge, young and powerful human resource still lacks the knowledge necessary to thrive in a competitive global market. Although as a career, freelancing has gained a lot of popularity in the last few years, but thousands of young people in Bangladesh need proper training and government support to make them able to take advantage of this opportunity. Outsourcing has increased in Bangladesh due to the rise of our IT sector and IT development. In the context of the country’s economy, the government needs to strengthen in this sector, which can generate a lot of foreign remittances. Outsourcing has affected the economy of Bangladesh and it is expected that the economy will continue to prosper.