YunoJuno Releases 2025 Freelancer Rates Report: AI Skills Drive Shift in Contingent Workforce Market as Average Day Rates Rise
LONDON, Feb. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- YunoJuno, the leading contingent workforce management platform connecting businesses with freelancers and contractors, this week released its comprehensive 2025 Freelancer Rates Report, revealing key insights into the evolving freelance market. The report, based on YunoJuno's proprietary data and analysis of 261,000+ freelance contracts, shows a 3% year-on-year increase in average day rates, reaching £390 per day (£49 per hour).
Showcasing a new skills analysis component for 2025, the report identifies the top 10 most frequently booked skills across 15 core disciplines, alongside the top 3 skills with the most significant positive impact on day rates. Notably, the analysis revealed standout high-paid skills such as UX design, Machine learning and Art direction among the creative and technology disciplines, demonstrating how skill specialisations can substantially enhance a freelancer's market value.
Other key findings within the report include:
- Strategy professionals command the highest rates at £520 per day, followed by Market Research (£491) and Data (£469)
- Top 10% of freelancers across industries earn approximately £708 per day (£89 per hour), marking a 9% increase from the previous year
- Average contract length decreased slightly to 23 working days
The report commentary highlights a paradoxical labour market situation where companies face simultaneous hiring freezes and critical skills shortages, with further pressure being added from technology's pace of change, particularly around accelerating AI advancements. This has led to an increased reliance on freelance talent as a strategic resource for maintaining business adaptability, agility and competitive advantage.
CEO at YunoJuno, Runar Reistrup says "we find ourselves at a fascinating point in both the labour and contractor markets. While companies face hiring freezes and actively look to reduce headcount, these same companies are facing skills shortages that will have a major impact on business performance if left unsolved."
"We are seeing more and more freelancers with strong AI skills coming to the market, having spent the last 1-2 years training and experimenting to become well-versed in AI's capabilities. With companies having little visibility around AI's long-term business impact, leveraging on-demand flexible talent is certainly the way forward."
The report also notes that freelancer availability reached an all-time high in the previous year before showing gradual recovery in Q4, indicating market resilience despite economic pressures. Day rates have stabilised despite an inflationary environment, reflecting the adaptive nature of the current market and supporting YunoJuno's belief that freelancers are not only "masters of change" but one of the most resilient parts of the global workforce.
YunoJuno recognises the immense contribution contractors and freelancers make to companies and projects worldwide and remains committed to supporting the freelance community by providing transparent and up-to-date information on market trends. The 2025 Freelancer Rates Report is available to view or download from the YunoJuno website and is free for those interested in gaining deeper insights into the contingent workforce landscape.
About YunoJuno:
YunoJuno is the only system businesses need to find, hire, manage and pay contractors and freelancers globally. Built as an all-in-one Freelancer Management System with direct sourcing included and plug-in options, YunoJuno takes the work and risk out of working with contractors.
Combining a Freelance Management System with an elite marketplace of 100,000+ industry vetted contractors and an on-hand delivery team, YunoJuno helps reduce costs, hiring times and protect against misclassification. With integrated tools, automation and insights, businesses can now accurately classify workers quickly, compliantly and on a global scale.
Data for the 2025 report:
The data from this report is drawn from approximately 261,000+ freelance records on the YunoJuno platform from the full calendar years from 2022 – 2024. The data set includes data for bookings, applications and approvals in order to give the report additional depth and insight into all of our freelancers. All charts contain all records, apart from booking related charts that only contain booking data.
All client and freelancer comments and quotes are from active participants within the YunoJuno network.
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