Freelancer 10 Survey Data

How has your business changed in the last six months?
The percentage of freelancers experiencing a decrease in income continues to rise. It was 39% in April 2023, increased to 48% in November 2023, 53% in April 2024; and has now reached 54% in October 2024.

 

What factors are harming freelancers?

Inflation remains the leading factor harming linguists' work in the last six months, affecting 70% of respondents. Disruptions due to generative AI (like ChatGPT) concern 59%, while 55% report disruptions caused by technology in the industry. Additionally, 54% cite the small size of language service projects, and 49% are affected by fluctuating demand for areas of specialty.

What has been your experience with demand?
The highest-growth services were over-the-phone or video interpreting (38%), dubbing, voice-over, or narration (31%), and remote simultaneous interpreting (30%).

 

Are you optimistic or pessimistic?

 The survey results indicate a mixed sentiment among participants. While 27% expressed optimism, 35% leaned towards pessimism, and 38% admitted to being unsure about their outlook. These diverse perspectives highlight the uncertain future and complex dynamics of the language services sector.

 

Confidence score: Translation services

The confidence scores for translation services and editing of machine translation show opposing trends from Q3 2020 to Q3 2024. The demand for machine translation editing continues to rise, with scores increasing from 0.09 in Q3 2020 to 0.59 in Q3 2024. In contrast, translation services exhibit a sharp decline, with scores falling from -0.08 in Q3 2020 to -0.50 in Q3 2024. This reflects a growing preference for machine-assisted workflows over human-only translation services during the analyzed period.