[Work Revolution] Voluntary Digital Nomads... Selling 'Money-Making Talents'

Surge in Platform Labor Working on Demand... Growth of Intermediary Platforms
Increase in Content and Service Sales Since COVID-19... Entire Process Non-Face-to-Face
Challenges in Protecting Workers from Minimum Wage, Unemployment Insurance, and Retirement Pension Systems

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] #Lee Geontae (33), who worked at a web design company, started a side job on kmong while working full-time. As the side gigs he took on to supplement his insufficient monthly salary began to grow as much as his main job, he quit his company and purchased a computer for 700,000 won. He travels between Seoul, Busan, and Jeju, working on design projects wherever he wants. He must respond to customer inquiries and revision requests 24 hours a day and sometimes stays up all night when work piles up. At his previous job, he earned 2 million won and could leave work on time, but now he earns more than three times that. He said, "I like that I can travel anytime and earn income proportional to the work I do," adding, "I'm always anxious because I never know when the work will stop, but I don't want to go back to my days as an office worker."

#YouTuber 'Deputy Manager Heo, who does multiple jobs' quit his startup job at the end of 2017 and earns money through card news content creation and know-how lecture content. His income from card news production was 2.3 million won per month. As the company faced difficulties, he challenged a card news contest to build experience for job changes, but after quitting, he chose freelancing instead of switching jobs. Leveraging his talent, he created card news templates in PPT. While writing a user manual, he turned that content into a lecture and uploaded it to a talent-sharing platform. His first income was 80,000 won. After accumulating reviews and receiving production requests from companies, he earned 4.52 million won in six months. Based on this experience, he consistently creates YouTube videos for those considering side jobs or quitting. He said, "Whether it's a blog or YouTube, try earning just 10,000 won without a company. You'll discover potential you never thought you had," adding, "I also worry about what I'll eat next month, but the important thing is that I don't just wait to be employed."

The unit of work is being divided. It has become easy to find people who can provide 'labor' quickly and cheaply without offering 'jobs.' Platforms that mediate work between those selling labor and customers have also grown rapidly. As low growth and employment difficulties deepen, more people are choosing the life of digital nomads with profitable talents. However, the lack of social insurance and legal protection corresponding to the maximized labor flexibility remains a challenge.

Growth of Platforms for Multi-Job Holders and Digital Nomads

Kmong Headquarters

Kmong employees are working or having casual conversations in an open space.

Among them, kmong is a representative platform for trading business tasks and labor such as marketing, design, and development. Park Hyunho, CEO of kmong and a former developer, has started several businesses and created 'kmong' dreaming of a digital nomad lifestyle. Park said, "In college, I made and sold PC room management programs, and later ran a game software shopping mall. After failing in the game business, I tried various things hoping to earn just 1 million won a month, which led to kmong," adding, "I dreamed of working alone and traveling, and kmong became a platform for people like that."

All processes on kmong are conducted non-face-to-face (untact). Assigning work, delivering results, and requesting revisions all happen online. With the COVID-19 pandemic encouraging non-face-to-face interactions, the number of people wanting to sell content or services on kmong surged. Park said, "The number of people registering services has doubled compared to before COVID-19, and we can't keep up with approval speed," adding, "As telecommuting increased, more people wanted multiple jobs, and the trend of switching to freelancing or working flexibly accelerated due to COVID-19." So far, about 80,000 experts have registered on kmong, with approximately 240,000 products listed.

Hyunho Park, CEO of Kmong

The growth of the platform labor market is due to simultaneous increases in supply and demand. The annual transaction volume on kmong has increased by more than 50%. Park said, "In the past, freelancers had to do sales themselves and got work through introductions or recommendations, but platforms like kmong provide opportunities to test side jobs," adding, "As creators become a profession, options beyond employment have increased." He continued, "Amateur workers handle club logo designs costing around 20,000 won, while experts take on corporate brand projects worth 5 million won, so if you have skills, you can receive appropriate compensation."

Companies also prefer hiring experts for tasks rather than incurring costs for full-time employees. Corporate organizations operate on a project basis and emphasize flexible responses to changing trends. Park said, "Initially, small business owners and startups used kmong to reduce costs, but recently large corporations and government offices also find people or outsource work through kmong," adding, "Companies need to respond quickly and flexibly to market environments, and with the increase in remote work solutions, environments for managing work by task have been established."

Work Uncertainty More Frightening than Freedom

Platform labor refers to work where individuals provide services and receive payment through digital platform mediation. As more people earn money through platforms, the scope is expanding. It ranges from 'gig workers' providing face-to-face services like delivery, driving, and cleaning to freelancers offering web-based labor in IT, design, development, accounting, and consulting, generating income through skills and content.

The growth of platform labor is intertwined with low growth, employment difficulties, and declining household income. As income decreases and employment becomes unstable, more people choose multiple jobs. Coupled with the trend of quitting jobs, more people are making platform labor their main occupation by developing expertise without spatial or temporal constraints. According to the Korea Employment Information Service's "Estimation of the Size of Platform Economy Workers in Korea," about 540,000 people engage in platform labor domestically, accounting for about 2.0% of all workers. Moreover, there is no clear legal definition of platform workers in Korea yet, and data on the number of workers or labor conditions is scarce.

Platform workers constantly suffer from anxiety. Negative customer reviews require emotional labor and create fears that work may disappear. Platform labor involves a three-party relationship including the employer (customer), seller (worker), and the platform. Customer evaluations serve to manage service quality and also supervise attendance and performance. Lee Geontae said, "When I receive orders, I have to respond within 24 hours and pay attention to customer reviews, so I have to endure unreasonable demands from clients," adding, "Starting as a side job is fine, but jumping in just by seeing the seemingly free lifestyle involves great risks."

Platform labor is provided short-term without contracts, so it does not receive protection under existing labor laws or systems. It is not covered by minimum wage laws, unemployment insurance, industrial accident insurance, labor standards law, or retirement pensions. Although still in its early stages, as the platform labor market grows and service prices fall, the instability of platform workers is likely to worsen. Kim Junyoung, head of Employment Trend Analysis at the Korea Employment Information Service, explained, "Competition among platform companies and price drops increase platform workers' labor hours, and when they reach the limit of how much labor they can provide, income reduction becomes inevitable."

Han Insang, legislative researcher at the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, pointed out, "Since platform labor involves diverse occupations and various forms of labor even within the same type, a survey of actual conditions is needed to classify employment types and prepare legislative measures to improve working conditions and environments."