Employment Outlook
Freelance Writer
Average wage for
Employment Levels
Around 24,400 people are currently employed as Freelance Writers in Australia. This is set to increase slightly to 26,900 people by 2019, according to the Department of Employment.
Employment by State
45.4% of all Freelance Writers are employed in NSW. The area with the lowest number of Freelance Writers is NT, with only 0.6%.
Gender Split
This is a slightly male dominated industry with 53.4% of Freelance Writers being male and 46.6% female.
Age Brackets
The most popular age for people working as Freelance Writers is 25-34 years old, with 33.7%. A small percentage (3.9%) of people get into this career path older, aged 65 and over. There is also a number of people who enjoy a career as Freelance Writers, with 9.7% aged 20-24.
Hours Worked
Freelance Writers work an average of 42.7 hours a week which is 1.8 hours higher than the average for all occupations.
Education Level
The majority of Freelance Writers have a Bachelor Degree qualification (41.3%) or are at a Year 12 level (25.8%). 74.1% of people have a Cert III or higher, whilst 25.9% have a qualification which is Year 12 or lower.
Freelance Writer Duties & Tasks
- Find potential clients and quote for work, supplying writing samples on request.
- Research article topics to identify relevant information.
- Understand and write to match the purpose of the article.
- Understand audience and use appropriate language.
- Write articles that are engaging and usefully accomplish their goal.
- Liaise with employers, editors, sources, and others as needed.
- Correctly reference sources of information where appropriate.
- Track jobs and maintain a steady flow of work.
Professional Associations & Groups
*The information provided on this page is from the Department of Employment’s Job Outlook website. All salary ranges are from Payscale. Where jobs are not exact matches, job areas have been used. This information is to be used as a guide only.
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