The Philippines was ranked seventh in the least expensive countries to hire a freelancer, based on a study by invoicing software company Bookip.

The study reported that the average price per job for a Filipino freelancer cost $106.70 or around P6,110.

Meanwhile, sitting at the top of the list of countries with the least payment for freelancers is Colombia with an average rate of $72.13, followed by Brazil ($79.81), Argentina ($80.84), Jamaica ($88.63), Venezuela ($93.41), and Germany ($102.35).

ASEAN countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia were also included in the list at 12th and 16th positions, respectively. The average rate for the latter was $136.44 while the former was at $150.00.

On the other hand, Australia had the most expensive rate for a freelancing job, costing an average of $594.56 which is 724 percent more than hiring an Australian freelancer on average.

India was noted as the second most expensive, with an average rate of $501.00 per freelancing job, and Morocco was the third most expensive with an average cost of $402.03.

"Our team members come from various corners of the world - Asia, Africa, Europe, and America and their life stories and experiences contribute to our team’s richness. Working closely together has taught me an immense amount about appreciating different cultures. As a result, we were interested in how these different experiences are reflected through the costs of freelance workers worldwide,” said Tim Lee, chief executive officer and founder of Bookipi.

“Typically, countries with robust economies and high living standards tend to host the most expensive freelancers, which the data reflects by finding Australia as the most expensive freelance country. Although this is true for India, the second country to appear in the ranking, freelancers can command a higher rate thanks to their specialized skills and expertise in industries such as software development, IT services, and digital marketing,” he added.

Bookip said that their study initially included 119 countries, but due to data limitations, left 40 countries that could be compared and ranked fairly.

The firm used the freelancing platform Upwork to find how much freelancers in these 40 countries charge on average per job and looked at several popular services, including logo design, video editing, and data entry.

The freelancer projects that collected data from fell into ten categories; Logo Design, Video Editing, Data Entry, Virtual Assistant, SEO, Social Media Management, Resume Writing, Creative Writing, Web Programming, Mobile Apps.

The Philippines Statistics Authority reported that the number of self-employed persons, which includes freelancers, rose to 27.2 percent or 13.33 million in February, from 25.7 percent or 11.79 million in the previous month.