For countries with low wages, this is a great opportunity to make money and not work in a regular job, but, for example, the USA has some of the highest rates in the world, so in the USA you can just work and you will earn money for everything you need. Here you need to look at the situation in which you are. In any case, as a side job, working on the Internet is a great way to make money.
Yeah, economy plays a vital role and actually online works and freelancing is good if the country you live has low GDP because you will earn online money which will be better than what you would earn for the same work in real life. For people who live in rich countries like US they would always want local jobs because their GDP is high and their income online will feel less.
I can give example, for a designer who comes from a poor country he might not get much if he works for local people but if he makes the same designs and offers services online then he gets paid much higher because pay scale on internet is not based on you country.