MENLO PARK, USA: In a survey of 600 buyers of remote services and 350 service providers, oDesk found that companies already using its platform to hire, manage, and pay remote contractors plan to increase their usage in the current recession.

At the same time, service providers say oDesk is a viable way to make a living as an alternative to full-time employment. The survey follows the company's recent reports on the freelance economy and homeshoring.

Of the 600 buyers surveyed, 41.9 percent are planning to outsource more in the recession, either because they have cut full-time staff (7.0 percent), or because they cannot hire full-time staff (34.9 percent).

Furthermore, 14.6 percent of buyers have replaced employees with oDesk providers in the last year, while 14.5 percent of buyers have hired an oDesk provider who would have otherwise been unemployed or a victim of the economic downturn.

Buyers cited cost savings, the ability to audit providers, and access to talent not available locally as their top three reasons to use oDesk.

Of the 350 providers surveyed, a vast majority said that there are enough jobs available on oDesk to meet their needs (73.9 percent), and feel that they are making fair rates (77.9 percent).

In fact, a majority (59.0 percent) said that if they weren't providing services on oDesk, they wouldn't be able to meet their financial obligations and 32.4 percent said oDesk earnings are their primary source of income. Overall, oDesk providers use oDesk because of its flexibility to live and work anywhere, guaranteed payment for hourly work, and the ability to set one's own hourly rate.

The data also show US-based companies increasingly selecting US-based providers, in a growing homeshoring trend. 53.9 percent of buyers are employing at least some US providers, while 84.3 percent of providers are working for a US-based buyer.