The Elance Online Employment Report concludes that the job categories experiencing the fastest growth online include Marketing, IT and Creative Services, while the hottest skills include cloud computing, mobile and online marketing. The report also reveals the broad geographic reach for online talent within the U.S. and across the globe. To access the full Elance Online Employment Report, please click here.
Online Marketing Gaining Market Share Fast
While IT continued to be the number one job category, Marketing showed the largest growth in provider earnings year over year (73%). SEO, Internet Marketing and Lead Generation strongly hold their positions as the highest in-demand skills in Marketing. Also in Q2, business interest in utilizing social media channels continued to grow, moving Social Media Marketing into the #4 spot, while Email Marketing moved up a position to slide into the #7 position.
IT Skills Remain in High Demand
The IT category remains the top performing job category with a 44% increase in provider earnings in Q2 year over year. Fueling this growth are companies embracing cloud computing platforms and mobile devices that need to tap into highly skilled and qualified work teams.
- After making an entry into the top 50 skills in Q1 2010, Google App Engine, the cloud-based application development platform, showed the single largest increase in demand with over a 10x growth quarter over quarter. With this increase, Google App Engine (#37) moved past Amazon Web Services (#40) as the cloud platform highest in demand in Q2.
- With a new operating system and SDK released last month, demand for skilled Apple iPad developers grew exponentially this quarter, with a nearly 200% increase in demand, sending it up 24 positions to #16 on the IT skills chart.
- Demand for specific mobile technologies continued to trend upwards throughout 2010 with iPhone (#8), Android (#25) and BlackBerry (#36) all steadily climbing the charts. With the launch of its new app store at the beginning of the quarter, BlackBerry showed a 92% growth in demand, moving it to #36 on the IT skills chart.
Geographic Reach
As businesses continue to hire online, independent professionals have opportunities to work beyond their local market. This quarter’s results show that both small and large cities host a wealth of online talent.
- East Coast cities top the list of the most active U.S. locations for talent. New York City ranks #1 followed by Brooklyn at #2. The central time zone claims the #3 (Houston) and #4 (Chicago) spots and San Francisco completes the top five.
- The Geekiest Cities – New York (#1), the “city that never sleeps”, flexes its IT muscle and takes the top spot over tech epicenter San Francisco (#2), followed by Los Angeles (#3), Portland (#4), and Queen Creek, AZ (#5).
- Energetic Innovators – The most creative talent can be found in New York City (#1), Amarillo, TX (#2), Brooklyn (#3), Seattle (#4) and Portland (#5). Pomona, CA grabbed a spot in the top 10, leaving neighboring Los Angeles in the middle of the pack.
- Masters of Messaging – The most active cities for marketing are New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. North Bend, OR (#4) and Chicago (#5) claim the final spots in the top five.
- Most Organized Cities – Texas dominates the top cities for operations skills with Plano, Dallas and Austin in the top three. Simi Valley, CA (#4) and Omaha, NE (#5) round out the top five.
