Freelancer - a freelancer or unemployed disguised

According to a survey by Anphabe Company, more and more young Vietnamese and international people are choosing freelancers to pursue " released speech". But behind that sparkling prospect is many disappointments, even "unemployment disguised".

In recent years, the phrase freelancer has not been strange. Young people are increasingly excited by the prospect of escaping from the office, no longer having supervisors, choosing their own working hours and working space. For those promising reasons, many people believe that being a freelancer will be free, creative, flexible and living true to their " passion".

A recent survey by Anphabe shows that 57% of people working in Vietnam have been or are participating in the gig economy meaning they have both a main job and work as freelancers to increase their income and experiment with new routes. Many people set a goal of just being qualified to escape 8 hours of office to live a free life.

This trend is not only happening in Vietnam. Anphabe said that there are about 1.57 billion people globally who are self-employed in some form (DemandSage, 2025). 38% of the US workforce was a freelancer in 2023, contributing up to 1.27 trillion USD to the economy (Upwork, 2023).

The scale of the global gig economy in 2025 is estimated at 582 billion USD, forecast to increase to 2,178 billion USD in 2034 with an annual growth rate of over 15% ( Business Research Insights, 2025).

Anphabe believes that free dreaming is not just a trend but has become a global economic trend.

However, Anphabe Company also pointed out the negative side of releasedness when illusion turns into disguised unemployment. The reality is often not as sparkling as on social networks, after a few months of entering the freelancer path, many young people have realized the "bad sides".

First of all, not having a deadline makes it easy for workers to be lazy. Without a supervisor or KPI, many people lose motivation and fall into delays.

No orientation, easy to get lost: Freelancer means having to design work yourself. Lack of customers, lack of projects means... no one gives jobs to do.

Unstable income, easily discouraged: After only 2-3 months, many young people are confused because their income is unstable and they cannot afford to pay living expenses.

At that time, many people realized that the " releasedess" they were pursuing was no different from... disguised unemployment.

According to an international survey, there are also common challenges: Gig workers often face social welfare shortages, no insurance, no sick leave, no retirement (AP News, 2024). They also have to compete with global freelancers, especially from markets with low labor costs.

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