COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACTS SELF-EMPLOYMENT (PILOT RESEARCH)
The article presents the results of a pilot survey of the self-employed, identifies the main advantages and disadvantages of this form of employment, shows the impact of the pandemic on freelancers from different fields, and outlines the prospects for the development of remote work in Russia. The data for the study was collected using a survey that was posted on Google Forms. Respondents (N = 111) were attracted to the survey in VKontakte communities and telegram chats related to self-employment (freelancing). The respondents voluntarily and anonymously answered the questions presented in the survey. The main method of questionnaire analysis was factor analysis based on the respondents ' responses. The principal component method was used as a method of factor selection, and the Varimax method with Kaiser normalization was used as a rotation method. As a result of the study, it was determined that in the period from March to December 2020, there was an increase in demand for the services of freelancers, and revenue naturally increased with the amount of time devoted to completed orders. The advantages of freelancing are identified, combined into two large groups, the first of which is conventionally designated as “Freedom”, and the second - “Profitability”.