Number of freelancers could be growing

There were about 180,000 people working primarily as freelancers as of June last year.

This accounts for between 8 and 10 per cent of working residents over the past 10 years, but their numbers could be growing in specific sectors such as private hire car services, said Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say.

Mr Lim added: "Having said that, past performance may not necessarily be an indication of future performance... in time to come, the growth of the gig economy will have a greater impact on more workers..."

He was replying to Tampines GRC MP Desmond Choo's question about the impact of the "sharing economy" allowing more to freelance as a secondary income.

Mr Lim added that a new annual survey, started in September, was conducted to gather more in-depth statistics on the changes in the freelancing landscape.

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