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As much as an economy is built by big businesses and visionary start-ups, it's also shaped
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by the independent workers who contribute to it every day.
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Here's my studio that's open for all, I actually used to busk here.
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So when the coronavirus pandemic emerged earlier this year, sending markets into a tailspin
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and disrupting most aspects of daily life, freelancers were hard hit.
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We saw a drop in sales of about 80% or more.
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That forced many of them to get creative to find new ways of working.
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I'm in Singapore speaking to freelancers in some of the economy's hardest-hit sectors
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to hear how they've done just that.
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Freelancing during this period of time has actually taken on new meaning.
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Independent work has been evolving fast in recent years.
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The popularity of digital platforms and apps such as Fiverr, Uber and Grab has transformed
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the dynamics of the workforce, with more people opting to do freelance work.
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In 2019, independent workers accounted for nearly 9% of the workforce in Singapore,
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or 211,000 residents.
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That's an increase from around 200,000 in 2016.
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Of them, more than 80% were doing freelance work as their primary job, or 7.5% of the workforce.
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But the day of reckoning has arrived as the pandemic has cast a spotlight on the gig economy.
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Job security has always been a concern in the gig economy.
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The measures aimed at curbing the coronavirus have altered consumption and travel patterns,
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fueling the volatility faced by independent workers.
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The impact of the pandemic isn't evenly felt across the gig economy.
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While demand for logistic and food delivery services surged during nationwide lockdowns,
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others, especially those in the arts and hospitality space, saw business dry up almost entirely.
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That was the case for singer-songwriter, Jill-Marie Thomas.
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Just call me Jill, just call me Jill.
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The former national talent search show winner quit her marketing job in 2018
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to pursue performing full-time.
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But when lockdowns crippled the country's flourishing entertainment scene,
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her dreams were almost dashed.
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I was really working very hard and getting a lot of gigs, finally getting the traction that I wanted,
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and inquiries were coming in and stuff like that, and then boom.
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Ilostmygig.sg, one of several sites launched internationally to support creative workers,
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estimates more than $21 million in income and almost 9,000 gigs have been lost at the
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end of August in Singapore as a result of Covid-19.
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As social restrictions put an end to live public performances, governments have been
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stepping in to help cushion the impact.
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In March, the government unveiled a $6,500 pay-out for freelance workers, on top of various support packages.
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Meanwhile, Singapore's National Arts Council partnered with streaming platform Bigo Live in May
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to launch SGLivehouse, a series of virtual gigs to help buskers like Jill transition to online performances.
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They sent equipment over.
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We even had a tutorial on how to stream and what we can and cannot do as well, and what
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we can do to improve our streams and stuff.
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So it was really helpful, and yeah, from then on, I continued streaming.
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This platform has always been here, this online platform, but with what we're going through,
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it's just been an eye-opener for me to realize that actually, it's not only this but I
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can also do this, and I can do both.
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The event is one of several initiatives rolled out during the pandemic to keep independent
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workers going.
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For instance, when lockdowns threatened to uproot Singapore's iconic food markets,
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known locally as hawker centers, the government worked with stall owners to find new online
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revenue streams.
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Ming Han Tan is a second-generation hawker seller who helps out at his parents' traditional
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dried cuttlefish and biscuits stall at Chinatown Complex located in the heart of the city.
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The only memories I have were tasting it as a child and falling in love with my dad's biscuit
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and now making it myself.
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The 34-year-old saw business drop as much as 80% due to the outbreak as people opted
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to stay home, prompting him to look for new ways of working.
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During the Covid, we had to look at new avenues such as doing delivery, advertising and marketing
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on Facebook, social media platforms, and also using digital payments.
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In June, the government launched Hawkers Go Digital, an initiative to help more independent stallholders
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adopt technologies such as e-payments to keep apace with changing consumer demands.
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As of August, nearly a third of 18,000 hawker stalls in Singapore, or 5,400 hawkers,
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have adopted digital payments, a figure authorities hope to raise to 100% by June 2021.
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There's a huge percentage of stalls that have adopted this SG Digital, SG Payment service
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and platform and they have started using them and found the benefits towards themselves.
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It is a win-win situation for both consumers and also for hawkers and stallholders.
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While some hawkers are concerned about transaction fees for digital payments kicking in from 2023,
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the scheme ties in with Singapore's wider ambitions to future-proof its traditional industries.
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Other initiatives to bolster demand for hawkers include in-person and virtual food tours
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to encourage more people to visit local markets.
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Ming Han says he hopes such efforts will help breathe new life into the hawker trade.
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We hope to bring more businesses back to this whole entire Chinatown Complex and to keep it alive
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because it is a sunset industry, and we do not hope that, because of this Covid,
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it continues to go down.
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Although the shift to digital has been a major learning curve for many independent workers,
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it has also been a boon for others who have made it their business to help with the transition.
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After being retrenched from a managerial position in 2016, Sandra Tan forged a new career
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as a digital marketer.
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Today, the freelance consultant is advising businesses and individuals on how to set up
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their online presence.
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I would dare to say it's almost a basic skill now for everyone to be able to brand themselves online.
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But this year, interest in her advisory services surged as nationwide lockdowns and mass retrenchments
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prompted more people to look for ways to promote themselves and their businesses online.
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When the pandemic came this year, there was a huge demand for that.
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Everybody wanted to have a slice of knowledge to know what exactly is digital marketing?
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What is social media? And how they can beef up their presence online.
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That includes helping people upskill and diversify.
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In this pandemic, we must remember that we need the three lives.
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And these three lives are very important: Live engagement, live experience and, of course,
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live entertainment.
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Since March alone, Sandra has coached some 500 people.
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In particular, her work has focused on the recently retrenched and clients in the hard-hit
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retail and hospitality sectors, who she says have had to reinvent themselves almost entirely.
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One of the key things, especially for the hotel industry to realize, was that apart from rooms,
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they have to look at their ancillary services.
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It could be an e-butler service or definitely online delivery.
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And that took them with a little bit of a shock because we never hear of hotels delivering food
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So they had to change their mindsets.
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Even as the pandemic takes a toll on the global economy, it has acted as a catalyst for change
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and created new opportunities for freelancers learning to adapt to the new norm.
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That could spell good news for fast-adapting workers like Ming Han, who thinks the shifts
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he has made in recent months will position him, and his industry, for the long-term.
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I'm very hopeful for Singapore's hawker culture, and I'm part of it.
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The whole culture has been around since the birth of Singapore and it will rise.
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It is a different chapter as compared to previous.
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We have to innovate and be adaptable to changes around, and with Covid it is a good stimulus
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to all hawkers, especially.
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And Jill?
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Well, even as her industry undergoes fundamental changes, she won't be letting go of her dreams
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anytime soon.
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I definitely want to keep doing this online thing.
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Slowly, slowly, I think, for me, I'm starting to get gigs and everything, and it is promising.
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So I do hope that I do get more gigs and more enquiries and be able to work towards my other
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dreams of owning my own place and stuff like that.