Portfolio Careers and the Gig Economy in Nepal: The Reality of Opportunities, Income, and Challenges for Youth
For a long time in Nepal, the meaning of a successful career was largely the same: a government job or permanent employment in a reputed institution, a fixed salary, and lifelong service in one organization.
However, the rapid growth of information technology, globalization, and changing labor markets has completely disrupted this traditional idea. Today’s youth do not want to remain confined to a single profession or a single employer.
Instead, they are increasingly drawn toward combining different skills, interests, and experiences to build multiple sources of income. In modern language, this is called a “portfolio career,” and in the broader language of economics, it is known as the “gig economy.”
A portfolio career means earning an income by combining different professions or types of work at the same time. In this model, a person does not depend entirely on one institution for full-time work. Rather, they independently provide services to multiple clients or companies based on their skills.
For example, one person may teach part-time at a university, develop software online for a foreign company, provide consulting services, and work in digital marketing at the same time. The impact of this growing global trend is now being strongly felt in Nepal as well, and it has already brought major changes to the structure of the labor market.
Global and Regional Context
The concepts of the gig economy and portfolio careers expanded rapidly, especially after the global economic recession of 2008 and later due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a 2021 study by the Oxford Internet Institute, more than 351 online gig platforms are operating worldwide, with over 163 million registered freelancers.
Statistics show that the value of the gig economy, which stood at USD 204 billion in 2018, reached USD 455 billion by 2023.
According to data from the RAND Corporation in the United States, the American gig economy is now worth around USD 1 trillion, and it is estimated that nearly 100 million gig jobs will be created there by 2027.
The number is also significant in South Asia. In India, the number of gig workers increased from 6.8 million in 2020 to 7.7 million in 2021, and it is projected to reach 23.5 million by 2029.
Likewise, data show that around 6.5 million freelancers are active in neighboring Bangladesh, while Sri Lanka has around 20,000 active freelancers. Nepal is not untouched by this wave. With the help of the internet and computers, Nepali youth have also begun to establish a strong presence in the global market.
Why the Gig Economy and Portfolio Careers Are Rising in Nepal
Traditional employment opportunities in Nepal are very limited. According to labor market data compiled by the National Labor Federation Nepal (RSM Nepal), the official unemployment rate in Nepal stands at 10.71 percent, while youth unemployment is even more alarming at 20.82 percent.
Similarly, around 84.6 percent of total employment in Nepal is still concentrated in the informal sector. In such a situation, a large number of young people have made portfolio careers their primary destination because they either do not find traditional jobs or are not satisfied with the ones they get.
According to the Asian Productivity Organization’s Productivity Databook 2025, the gig economy has already started contributing around 7 percent to Nepal’s gross domestic product (GDP). This clearly shows that portfolio careers in Nepal are no longer just a matter of preference or a temporary alternative, but are becoming a strong and important part of the national economy.
This shift also aligns with broader changes discussed in jobs, skills, and degrees in Nepal’s labor market, where employability is increasingly shaped by market demand rather than traditional career expectations alone.
Digital Freelancing and IT Exports: A New Backbone of the Economy
In Nepal, the largest and most attractive area of portfolio careers has become information technology (IT) and digital freelancing. According to a detailed study conducted by the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS), Nepal exported IT services worth around USD 515.4 million in 2022 alone, equivalent to about NPR 68 billion.
This export contributed 1.4 percent to Nepal’s GDP and 5.5 percent to the country’s total foreign exchange reserves. In 2022 alone, Nepal’s IT service exports recorded a remarkable growth of 64.2 percent, with exports by IT companies increasing by 80.5 percent and exports by independent freelancers rising by 55.2 percent.
According to the same study, more than 66,509 IT professionals and freelancers are actively working in Nepal. Among them, around 14,728 are engaged in software development, while 51,781 are involved in IT-enabled services (ITeS) through digital platforms.
Data from the Online Labour Index (OLI) also show that around 49 percent of Nepal’s online freelance workforce is engaged in programming and tech development.
Nepali youth are now serving foreign clients through international platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer.com in areas such as graphic design, video editing, web development, app development such as Flutter, React, and Laravel, data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital marketing.
On globally recognized platforms such as Upwork, Nepali freelancers have earned very high ratings, reaching as high as 4.9 out of 5, and they are earning between USD 5 and USD 60 per hour.
This growing demand also reflects the relevance of remote tech jobs and the skills and habits they require, especially for young Nepalis seeking location-independent work.
Income Potential of Portfolio Careers in Nepal
Income in a portfolio career depends on a person’s skills, experience, and the nature of the work. According to the IIDS study, entry-level workers in Nepal’s IT sector earn an average annual income of USD 2,810.
Likewise, mid-level workers earn USD 6,395 annually, while highly skilled senior-level experts earn an average of up to USD 15,322 per year. Even a general freelancer working from Nepal has an average annual income of USD 4,723.
The contribution Nepali youth and IT companies have made to foreign currency earnings without major promotional support from the government is historic in itself. According to Bal Krishna Joshi, co-founder of Machnet Technologies and Thamel Remit, the current USD 500 million figure reflects only the formal sector.
If both the formal and informal sectors are taken together, there is strong potential for Nepal’s IT industry and freelancing market to exceed USD 1.5 billion.
For many young people, this connects directly with the idea of building high-income skills for Nepali youth that can be monetized across multiple clients and platforms.
Expansion of Physical Gig Work at the Local Level
Not only digital freelancing, but also the number of gig workers doing physical work within Nepal is increasing day by day. Ride-sharing platforms such as Pathao, Tootle, inDrive, and Yango, and delivery service providers such as Foodmandu, Daraz, and Upaya, have provided flexible employment to hundreds of thousands of Nepalis.
According to one set of data, a single ride-sharing and delivery platform in Nepal has provided direct or indirect income opportunities to more than 200,000 people. Tootle alone has more than 50,000 riders and over 400,000 customers, while Pathao has more than 92,000 affiliated riders.
This kind of portfolio work has provided significant relief especially to college students, young people without formal academic qualifications, and citizens who have migrated from rural areas to cities.
At the same time, in a context where only 22 percent of women in Nepal work outside the home, such platforms have also given women opportunities to step beyond traditional boundaries and work independently.
Serious Challenges and Risks Linked to the Opportunities
Although portfolio careers and the gig economy provide freedom and opportunities for better earnings, serious challenges remain within this sector. A survey conducted by researchers from Tribhuvan University among 385 gig workers in Kathmandu Valley, including those in ride-sharing, online tutoring, e-commerce delivery, food delivery, and freelancing, highlighted several risks in this field.
Among the respondents, 37.56 percent identified legal and policy ambiguity as the main challenge. Likewise, 32.64 percent said the lack of social security such as pension and gratuity, and the absence of health insurance, were major problems.
Another 34.72 percent of workers complained that they had no financial security or savings options. Unlike permanent jobs, gig work does not provide a fixed salary, and unstable income, along with the possibility of earning nothing when sick or when work is unavailable, remains one of its main disadvantages.
Similarly, for online freelancers, the lack of fully convenient access to international payment gateways is another major problem. There are still procedural complications in bringing into Nepal the dollars earned from working abroad, forcing many freelancers to rely on difficult alternative methods.
Government Policy and Regulatory Efforts
Seeing the growing size of the gig economy and freelancing sector, the Government of Nepal has gradually begun efforts to bring it into the formal economic framework. According to the latest tax policy introduced by the government, freelancers who earn foreign currency by exporting services abroad must pay a 5 percent flat tax on their income.
For this, a Permanent Account Number (PAN) has been made mandatory, and only money received through the banking system is recognized as valid foreign income. A rule has also been implemented requiring freelancers earning more than NPR 4 million in foreign income annually to compulsorily file the D4 tax form with detailed disclosures.
This step has helped connect thousands of freelancers to the formal economy, give legal recognition to their income, and contribute to the national treasury.
In addition, the Nepal Trade Integrated Strategy (NTIS) 2023, implemented by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, has also prioritized information technology and related services as key exportable sectors for Nepal.
The Need for Skill Development and Portfolio Building
Nepal’s education system is still largely based on traditional and theoretical knowledge. However, in a portfolio career or the global gig economy, what is directly evaluated is not educational certificates alone, but a person’s practical skills and problem-solving ability.
Today, Nepali youth need to build a strong professional portfolio to prove themselves at the international level. Employers in Nepal, such as Leapfrog Technology, Verisk Nepal, and CloudFactory, as well as foreign clients, usually assess candidates’ technical competence, work experience, communication skills, and completed projects or case studies before offering work.
For this, young people need to continuously learn new technologies, become involved in communities such as Google Developer Group (GDG Nepal) and Young Innovations, strengthen their GitHub and LinkedIn profiles, and keep themselves updated as specialists in line with international market demand in areas such as DevOps, AI, and Cloud.
These realities closely match the wider discussion around future of work skills to track, where adaptability and practical capability matter more than linear career paths.
Conclusion
Overall, portfolio careers and the gig economy are not merely a short-term trend in Nepal’s labor market. They represent a long-term structural shift. With the expansion of information technology and digital platforms, unprecedented opportunities have emerged for Nepali youth to compete in the global market and earn in dollars while living in their own country.
This has effectively reduced the limits imposed by geography and globalized skill and creativity.
However, to make this sector safe and sustainable for workers, greater policy clarity and infrastructure development are needed from the state. The government and private sector both need to pay attention to bringing gig workers and independent professionals within the scope of the Social Security Fund (SSF), making international payment systems fully accessible, increasing investment in digital infrastructure, and transforming the education system into one that is technology-friendly and skill-oriented.
If the existing challenges are addressed in time, Nepal’s young workforce and their portfolio careers can certainly take the country’s overall economy to a new level of self-reliance and prosperity.
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