E-lancing websites or platforms operate as hubs where employers place tasks, which freelancers from around the world bid for.
Some e-lancing websites act as intermediaries for payment, paying the freelancer directly after work is completed, to mitigate the risk of non-payment.
[1] Employers posting work on these websites set the price they are willing to pay for the task proposed.
[2] Sebastian Trenner of the World Bank wrote in 2012 that online marketplaces were unlikely to produce a significant decrease in skilled unemployment.
[3] Conversely, Karsten Geis of Empirica Capital wrote in 2014 that e-lancing would be a primary employer of the future, and that normal jobs will tend to disappear.