1. New forms of self-
employment in Russia:
Remote work patterns
and E-markets
XIII April international Academic Conference
on Economic and Social Development
(April 5, 2012)
This study was carried out within “The National Research University Higher School of Economics’
Academic Fund Program in 2010-2012, research grant No. 10-01-0129.

2. Self-Employment in the New Economy
• Service sector
• Knowledge-intensive and Creative industries
• Remote work or Telework (using ICT)
• Global E-markets
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3. E-lance economy
“The fundamental unit of such an economy is not the corporation
but the individual. Tasks aren’t assigned and controlled through
a stable chain of management but rather are carried out
autonomously by independent contractors.
These electronically connected freelancers – e-lancers –
join together into fluid and temporary networks to produce
and sell goods and services. When the job is done – after a day,
a month, a year – the network dissolves, and its members become
independent agents again, circulating through the
economy, seeking the next assignment”.
Thomas W. Malone and Robert J. Laubacher
The Dawn of the E-Lance Economy (1998)
3

4. Online Marketplaces for Freelancers
Year of Working Registered
Name
foundation language users
Freelancer.com 2004 Eng. 3,000,000
oDesk.com 2003 Eng. 2,000,000
Elance.com 1999 Eng. 1,300,000
Guru.com 2000 Eng. 1,000,000
Free-lance.ru 2005 Rus. 1,000,000
vWorker.com 2001 Eng. 500,000
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5. New phenomenon for Russia
• Self-employment in the USSR was illegal
• Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) lag
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6. Self-employment in Russia
Type Russia EU
Own account workers
5.8 10.5
(without employees)
All self-employed
(including employers
7.3 16.9
and contributing
family workers)
Source: ILO
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7. Online Marketplaces for Freelancers
Name Russia UK USA
Internet penetration rate
43 % 84 % 78 %
(% of population)
Use the Internet
for their work 23 % 77 % 62 %
(% of the labor force)
Source: FOM, RLMS-HSE, E-skills.com, Pew Research Center
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8. Free-lance.Ru: Registered Users Growth
1000
900
Amount of users (in thousands)
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
01.01.05 01.01.06 01.01.07 01.01.08 01.01.09 01.01.10 01.01.11 01.01.12 8

9. Data Overview
1. Second Russian Freelance Survey (2011, March), N = 10,943
• Future freelancers (2,925)
• Active freelancers (7,179) (from Russia – 4,474)
• Former freelancers (839)
2. Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – HSE (2010, Oct), N = 21,343
• Russian working population (10,145)
47.5% of general population
• Russian employees using the Internet for their work (2,017)
9.5% of general population
19.9% of Russian working population
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10. Questionnaire: about 50 questions
• Demographic and professional profile
• Work values and motivation
• Employment strategies
• Relationships with clients
• Satisfaction
• Income and well-being
• Self-management
• Work-life balance
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11. Gender
% 70
60 59
60 53
50 47
41 40
40
30
20
10
0
Male Female
Freelancers Employees using the Internet Working population

12. Age
45 42
%
40
35
28 30
30 28
26
25 22
19 19
20 17
15 12 13
12 11 10
9
10
5
0
18-22 23-26 27-30 31-40 41 years +
Freelancers Employees using the Internet Working population
Mean: 28.5 35.0 38.3 years old

13. Education
% 70 64
60
60 56
50
40
30 29
30
21
20 15
10
10
3 2 3 3 2 2 1
0
School (8-9 years) School (10-11 University, no University (5-6 PhD
years) degree (3-4 years) years)
Freelancers Employees using the Internet Working population

14. Employment Status
Employees Students
(41%) (14%)
GENUINE
FREELANCERS
(29%)
Entre- House-
preneurs wives
(8%) (7%)

15. Skills
Websites 29
Computer programming 20
Graphic design, Creative arts 38
Engineering and Manufacturing 9
Photography 5
Audio / Video 10
Writing, Editing 28
Translating 12
Advertising / Marketing / Consulting 5
Other 3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 %

16. Work Values
Which aspects do you personally think are important in a job?
16
%

17. Working Hours
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Mean:
Freelancers 12 18 15 26 29 51
Employees using
2 8 71 17 3 42
the Internet
Working population 3 9 56 25 8 45
hours
Up to 20 h 21-35 h 36-45 h 46-60 h More than 60 h17

18. Earnings (average monthly post-tax personal income in USD)
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Mean:
Freelancers 17 35 29 20 1,090
Employees using
25 53 19 3 665
the Internet
Working population 47 43 10 1 480
USD
Less than $325 $326 to $825 $826 to $1650 More than $1650 18

19. Satisfaction
All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole nowadays?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Freelancers 11 47 29 11 3
Employees using the
9 51 24 13 2
Internet
Working population 9 41 24 20 6
Very satisfied Satisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 19

20. Conclusion: Electronic Freelancers in Russia
• Young individuals with a higher enterprising spirit and human
capital, offering creative and knowledge-intensive services.
• Work longer hours than regular employees and often operate under
pressure, but have a higher income, enjoy autonomy at work and are
satisfied with their lives.
• “New middle class” and the vanguard of the workforce in terms of the
nature of work, ICT-competence and motivation.
• Play an important role in the development of the Internet, e-
business, and innovative entrepreneurship.
• But still very narrow and highly specific category of the workforce.
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21. BE FREE !
Contact us:
strebkov@hse.ru
shevchuk@hse.ru
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