The virtual assistant business is booming. As telecommuting has become the norm, managers are turning to remote administrative assistants, salespeople, and editors to handle their ice support teams to help them offload daily tasks. You may want to know more about the virtual assistant industry and how managers are using VAs to make their lives easier.
Let’s start with the definition: A virtual assistant is a remote administrative assistant. This is a general category. Day-to-day tasks VAs can take on include:
- making appointments
- Email and phone correspondence
- Planning travel and delivery expenses
- Data entry and CRM management
- Follow up on sales leads
- Email marketing
- Social media management
- Invoice processing and payment processing
- Data entry and cleaning
- Bookkeeping
- Other general management duties
Other virtual assistants provide more specialized services. These are not system administrators but professionals trained in disciplines such as:
Now, on to the stats of the virtual assistant!
Virtual Assistant Vital Statistics
1. There are either 25,000 — or 30+ million virtual assistants in the world.
It depends on how you count. If you count every remote freelancer as a virtual assistant, there are 10 million. there is 12 million freelancers on Upwork, 20 million on Freelancer, and 3 million on Fiverr. Wikipedia says the number of people with the title “virtual assistant” is Closer to 25,000.
2. There are 5,600 members of the International Virtual Assistant Association (IVAA).
Virtual assistants even have their own trade association. “The organization intends to promote, support and maintain the integrity of this rapidly growing industry through interactive online programs and one-on-one networking.” of IVAA The mission statement says. “IVAA is non-inventory and is run by volunteer professionals around the world who actually serve and/or guide independent virtual assistants.”
3. The Philippines has the most virtual assistants in the world at 13%.
Hard numbers on virtual assistant populations are hard to come by because there is no global Bureau of Labor Statistics that measures employment, and many virtual assistants themselves work under the radar of governments.
If you use Upwork as a proxy, the largest percentage (13) of the market’s virtual assistants are in the Philippines. This number represents the total virtual assistant market.
4. Employment of virtual assistants abroad through offshore agencies increased by 41% in 2020.
It growth came when businesses closed offices, and many realized that virtual offices needed virtual assistants.
5. Freelance virtual assistants who worked through online marketplaces increased their bookings by 16% in 2020.
During the pandemic, solo practitioners also found their way Business is growing As the demand for experienced people in remote work increases.
6. The Philippines is the unofficial best country for virtual assistants.
Which country has the “best” virtual assistants? This is another question that is difficult to answer objectively. Many people cite the Philippines as offering the most educated, literate and hardworking virtual assistants. The Philippines has a Literacy rate of 96%. and free college. The country is also ranked as the best outsourcing destination in the world for business English.
7. Virtual assistants earn $2 to $20 per hour.
According to Indeed, a US-based virtual assistant makes approx $24 an hour. Glassdoor says the salaries for VAs in the Philippines are $14-$16 per hour. However, you can find job boards offering virtual assistants in the Philippines for $2 an hour, so Glass Door’s numbers look high.
8. There are three ways to hire a virtual assistant:
- Hire a freelancer through a marketplace or job board.
- Use an agency that provides independent contractor VAs.
- Use a managed service that hires, equips and manages the VAs for you.
What is the best way to hire? It depends on how much you want to be responsible for hiring, management and quality control. A freelancer will take the most effort on your part and the least managed service.
9. 87% of VAs work hourly.
How do you pay a virtual assistant? How you pay depends on how you rent.
- If you hire a freelancer, you pay through the marketplace or use an online payment app like PayPal or Payoneer if you hire a VA directly.
- If you hire a contractor through an agency, you pay the agency.
- If you use a managed virtual assistant service, you pay the service provider.
10. 59% of virtual assistants work full time.
This vital virtual assistant figure may seem high because VAs are typically part-time positions. But many virtual assistants support multiple clients to make it a full-time job.
11. 60% of the virtual assistants have an academic education.
This figure also surprises many people. But in countries like the Philippines and India, working as a virtual assistant can be much more attractive than the most common jobs available to college graduates – working in call centers. Virtual assistants enjoy working with managers and building long-term productive relationships.
12. Virtual assistants cost 78% less than full-time on-site employees.
It takes about $4,000 and four months to hire an employee in the US. You also provide salary, benefits, office space, computers, etc. With a virtual assistant, all you pay is the hourly rate.
13. 69% of virtual assistants are married.
This virtual assistant statistic may surprise even those who think VAs are nomads who want to work from anywhere. This may have been the case in the past, but the industry is changing. Keep reading.
14. Managers spend 16 hours a week on daily administrative work.
Where does the time go?
- It takes 25 minutes to make an appointment.
- They spend three hours a day in email correspondence.
- It takes 12 hours to plan a business trip.
Getting that time back is one of the biggest drivers for virtual assistants. Managers spend too much time on tasks they can easily outsource. Instead of paying themselves a high salary to do their management work, managers and HR teams are investing in virtual assistants.
15. There are over 150,000 virtual assistant jobs posted on Ziprecruiter.com in the United States alone.
It is much! Although not as many jobs as “software developer” (700,000+) and “web developer” (300,000), for some perspective.
16. The average age of a virtual assistant in the US is 40.
Another shock, right? Virtual assistants access essential business information and accountability. Managers are looking for Experienced people they can trust.
17. 85% of virtual assistants have a professional website.
This figure shows further evidence of this VAs are serious about their business And invest in online marketing to grow.
18. 35% of top earning executives use a virtual assistant.
In the 2023 Annual Executive Productivity Report, we found that 35% of executives now use a virtual assistant.
Summary
The virtual assistant is a growing profession, as evidenced by the fact that most VAs are married, have college degrees, are older, and work full-time. Market analysts measure the virtual assistant industry, and trade associations are formed.
also A recent report by staffing industry analysts (SIA) has identified the virtual assistant landscape as a growing sector in the broader business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
SIA also found that virtual assistant businesses have grown during the pandemic and are increasingly being used by organizations to improve executive productivity.
Learn more: Curious how to hire virtual assistants with Prialto? Read our guide.
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