Computer security is fastest-growing online skill in Q2
IT Staffing Report
Main article
The freelance skill with the fastest-growing global demand in the second quarter was computer security, according to Freelancer.com. The number of job postings on the talent platform requiring computer security skills rose 27.1% to 1,103 jobs in the second quarter from the first quarter.
“This trend in cybersecurity skills suggests more small to medium business are turning to freelancers for cybersecurity support,” according to Freelancer.com.
PDF writing ranked as the second-fastest-growing skill, seeing a 26.7% increase in posts in Q2 from Q1 to total of 1,351. Microsoft Word skills were the third-fastest growing, up 23.9% year over year to 4,173.
The fastest declining skill in the second quarter was working with Shopify Templates, which fell by 13% in the second quarter from the first to a total of 1,284. Other eCommerce skill also fell, and Freelancer.com noted that was mainly due to seasonality.
“Typically, entrepreneurs will start a business at the beginning of the year, requiring help to set up their websites or eCommerce platforms,” according to Freelancer.com. “From there, the entrepreneur either pivots to hiring freelancer for other business services, such as sales or research which we’ve seen in Q2 2024 fastest growing jobs or are equipped with enough to run their business without any further help.”
Freelancer also reported the most in-demand skill in terms of total job posts requesting it in the second quarter was graphic design, which was requested in 117,008 posts. It was followed by PHP with 72,457.
Data for the report is based on 251,000 jobs posted to the Freelancer.com platform between April 1 and June 30.
Fastest-growing skills in Q2 by increases in job posts
1 | Computer Security | 868 | 1,103 | 27.1% |
2 | 2,533 | 3,210 | 26.7% | |
3 | Microsoft Word | 3,368 | 4,173 | 23.9% |
4 | Market Research | 1,535 | 1,859 | 21.1% |
5 | Telemarketing | 1,177 | 1,405 | 19.4% |
6 | Civil Engineering | 1,032 | 1,204 | 16.7% |
7 | Sales | 3,467 | 4,005 | 15.5% |
8 | Local Job | 1,129 | 1,302 | 15.3% |
9 | Business Analysis | 2,795 | 3,197 | 14.4% |
10 | Statistical Analysis | 1,573 | 1,774 | 12.8% |
11 | Figma | 898 | 1,009 | 12.4% |
12 | Laravel (PHP) | 2,317 | 2,603 | 12.3% |
13 | Lead Generation | 1,802 | 2,021 | 12.2% |
14 | Legal | 1,138 | 1,274 | 12.0% |
15 | 2,277 | 2,549 | 12.0% | |
16 | Copy Typing | 4,428 | 4,941 | 11.6% |
17 | Business Plans | 1,197 | 1,328 | 10.9% |
18 | Legal Research | 917 | 1,016 | 10.8% |
19 | Electronics repair | 14,945 | 16,548 | 10.7% |
20 | Project Management | 1,048 | 1,157 | 10.4% |
21 | User Interface Design | 4,515 | 4,982 | 10.3% |
22 | Customer Support | 926 | 1,021 | 10.3% |
23 | Statistics | 1,995 | 2,199 | 10.2% |
24 | Network Administration | 1,229 | 1,351 | 9.9% |
25 | Virtual Assistant | 3,024 | 3,302 | 9.2% |
Fastest-falling skills in Q2 by decreases in job posts
1 | Shopify Templates | 1,476 | 1,284 | -13.0% |
2 | CSS | 9,486 | 8,368 | -11.8% |
3 | WooCommerce | 1,072 | 952 | -11.2% |
4 | Shopify | 2,545 | 2,269 | -10.8% |
5 | Audio Production | 1,659 | 1,501 | -9.5% |
6 | Solidworks | 1,638 | 1,487 | -9.2% |
7 | Illustration | 9,483 | 8,633 | -9.0% |
8 | Adobe InDesign | 1,381 | 1,262 | -8.6% |
9 | AngularJS | 1,246 | 1,141 | -8.4% |
10 | JavaScript | 13,229 | 12,133 | -8.3% |
11 | Creative Writing | 3,444 | 3,166 | -8.1% |
12 | Product Descriptions | 1,253 | 1,154 | -7.9% |
13 | SQL | 1,372 | 1,265 | -7.8% |
14 | Electronics | 2,066 | 1,908 | -7.7% |
15 | Poster Design | 1,135 | 1,058 | -6.8% |
16 | WordPress | 13,576 | 12,666 | -6.7% |
17 | Web Scraping | 3,740 | 3,496 | -6.5% |
18 | Blog | 1,288 | 1,204 | -6.5% |
19 | .NET | 1,692 | 1,586 | -6.3% |
20 | Corporate Identity Design | 4,631 | 4,370 | -5.6% |
21 | Transcription | 1,071 | 1,014 | -5.3% |
22 | Illustrator | 26,616 | 25,271 | -5.1% |
23 | Social Networking | 1,245 | 1,185 | -4.8% |
24 | Link Building | 5,742 | 5,483 | -4.5% |
25 | HTML | 30,041 | 28,860 | -3.9% |