9 Million REGISTERED FREELANCERS

[Jean S]

Less than 100K jobs in May. 

This doesn't make much sense. The numbers don't seem realistic.

[John K]

Jean,

It's 9 million freelancers. Some of them may be clients as well, but I assume the majority aren't. And I don't know if Upwork publishes how many clients there are.

[Michael R]

9 million registered, and how many active freelancers?

[Setu M]

I don't know about the 9 million registered. Unless 7.8 million users only registered and then never interacted with the platform. The number shown in search is always shy over 1.2 million.

[Setu M]

There was a post somewhere over in the other sub-forum where they were talking about keeping "active" as this will affect search. But I am not at liberty to copy and paste.

[Sandra T]

Hi Setu,

since I can't read the particular thread - is there some kind of definition on "active" or do you happen to have an idea what is meant by that? Because I am developing this slight feeling that despite a regular contract that gives Upwork a $100+ fee a month, the fact that I am not willing/able to apply much or do additional jobs might be counting against me.

Thanks (and sorry about always bugging you with questions, but you do seem to have by far the largest knowledge of this place!)

[Setu M]

Sandra,

I am not permitted to share things from the new sub-forum publicly. Anyhow, I am not exactly sure what counts as being "active." I figure once you apply for jobs or respond to invites, that will be counted. I am not sure about cases where you work offline, but I imagine that once you communicate via Upwork with a client, or submit or log time, then that makes you active. Hopefully a Mod can elaborate.

[Valeria K]

Hi Sandra,

Active freelancers are those who regularly log into Upwork and use it either for working on existing contracts or to apply for jobs. Also, you not actively applying for jobs will not count against your. You are free to use Upwork to work on your active contracts only.

[Setu M · Accepted solution]

To put it into context, the chart below shows a snapshot of open jobs per category compared to number of active freelancers in the same time period per category.

Open jobs do not mean total jobs posted per month, but the number of jobs open to applicants at that point in time based on Upwork's definition. This includes legitimate open jobs, jobs already filled but left open, spam jobs, and scam jobs.

Customer Service category shows a dismal ratio. That's it for now for charts.

[Jean S]

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@Setu M wrote:
I don't know about the 9 million registered. Unless 7.8 million users only registered and then never interacted with the platform. The number shown in search is always shy over 1.2 million.

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The 9 million number came from the bottom on one of Upwork's pages and that was the actual wording.