I refer to the article “More fresh poly grads in full-time jobs with higher pay in 2023” (Jan 12).

It was reported that 5 per cent of the respondents polled in the 2023 Polytechnic Graduate Employment Survey had indicated “freelancing” as their employment status.

This figure was 5.9 per cent in 2022 and 4.7 per cent in 2021 – reflecting a stable base of young people entering the workforce as freelancers. This trend is unsurprising.

In sectors such as the arts, creative, media, fitness and sports, changing business models have led businesses to prefer hiring a small core team of employees and a revolving door of freelancers with expertise that augments the core team’s.

It would be timely and necessary for polytechnics and other tertiary institutions to expand education and career guidance to cater to the needs of their students considering freelancing as a career.

Institutes of higher learning could increase students’ appreciation of emerging and evolving freelance work models and the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in non-traditional work environments.

Education and career guidance could help young adults know how to sustain a viable career as a freelancer, such as what constitutes fair freelancing contract terms, where to seek recourse for disputes, how to enhance income security via social safety nets like the Central Provident Fund (CPF), and how to guard against non-payment of fees and the undertaking of uncompensated work.

The NTUC Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit has been active in advocating for more support for freelancers and organising workshops and coaching sessions.

We have also opened our talks to polytechnic students.

We and our affiliated associations look forward to partnering institutes of higher learning to give young people a head start in career navigation, particularly those seeking careers in freelancer-dominated sectors.

Jean See Jin Li
Director
NTUC Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit