Freelancing as an Involuntary Form of Employment for Young Professionals

This article casts doubt on the hypothesis regarding the voluntary choice of freelancing as a form of employ-ment and the preservation of independence among individuals engaged in it. The issue under investigation is explored in the domestic literature from the perspective of precarious employment, which is becoming a life-style and enables workers to perform labor tasks independent of specific locations and times. The aim of the article is to analyze freelancing as a form of employment among young professionals. The empirical basis is constituted by a monitoring study of graduates from 2017 to 2023 (n = 8,938) from a large Russian university. The results of the study indicate that freelancing is more frequently used by youth as a supplementary form of employment (16.3 %), underscoring its involuntary nature. The findings reveal low prospects for an increase in the proportion of highly qualified specialists engaged in freelancing, as only 4.7 % of workers use it as their primary means of employment; similar values have been observed over the past seven years of measurement. A typology of employed individuals is proposed: organizational worker, independent worker, and involuntary freelancer. The materials contribute to the advancement of scientific understanding regarding youth employ-ment, particularly freelancing, in the context of a rapidly changing labor market.