Dear Readers,

We’re already into February and the year is well and truly under way. In today’s issue we’ve provided a brief reminder that the Paid Parental Leave scheme came into effect on the 1 January 2011 and is now up and running. This scheme is available to all freelance consultants and their partners who have become parents on or after this date.

The job market is holding firm with more than 20% of all jobs available focused on Contract work. We also provide a brief overview of a study undertaken by Flying Solo on the Micro Business sector (us) and how we’re faring so far.

Lastly, we’ve provided you a very detailed graphic which sheds some light on the mystery of how Google manages to do what it does.

Wishing you a very successful February.

Cheers

Bert Franzen

As per our earlier newsletter; the paid parental leave scheme came into operation on the 1st January. If you pass the eligibility criteria (check here) as an independent contractor will also be able to claim. The government is financing this scheme based on the basic wage. So, if in doubt, check out the relevant information on the family assistance website.

The strength of the Australian jobs market is continuing, with overall job advertisements increasing in January despite a big down-turn in Queensland because of the floods.

An analysis of the job boards indicates that well over 20% of the work on offer January is aimed at independent contractors. This varies considerably across the nation and reflects the high level of demand for freelance skills in general.

The ANZ Job Advertisements Series shows a 2.4 per cent rise in January, taking the average weekly number to just over 192,000.

ANZ's head of Australian economics Ivan Calhoun says the rise is even more significant, because the flooding in Queensland weighed quite heavily on the number of advertised positions.

'We can see in the data that there was an effect from the Queensland floods, particularly in the week ending the 16th of January, that has probably taken at least 0.75 percentage points off our numbers, perhaps even slightly more,' he said. The number of jobs advertised in Australia is now up more than 40 per cent, compared to the same time last year. Mr Calhoun says demand in the domestic labour market remains solid. 'Admittedly, remember, it was coming off that low point that happened after the global financial crisis,' he said.

'So job advertising got to very, very low levels. So it's not totally surprising that it has risen for that many months in a row, but the good news, I think, is that it's continuing to rise at the moment.'

In the modern lexicon the terms Independent contractors, freelance consultants and micro-businesses are one and the same.

A recent study by Flying Solo supported the findings of many of the other studies sited previously.

In summary; we’re a happy bunch with 46% being in the 40-56 age bracket and 36% in the 25-39 range. 57% of us have been in operation for more than 3 years, with those on a salary of $104-129k being twice the national average with top bracket earners being four times the national average. About 70% of us work from home and 50% are in the services sector.

Despite all the mod-cons of social media, a phenomenal 85% of us still regard word of mouth as being best source of business. Lastly, 80% of us are happy in our work and very optimistic about the future.

Click here download the survey.

If you’ve ever wondered how Google does what it does; then it might be worth your while taking a look at the attached link which provides a graphic as to the workflow. The complexity behind what happens after you hit the enter key and the second later when the search results appear is quite amazing.

www.australiafreelancemarket.com.au, Postal address: 49 Frenchs Forest Rd, Frenchs Forest NSW 2086, Australia

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Benefits for clients and contractors:
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