A study on the present status of freelancers in speech-language rehabilitation

Job hunting and job instability are reported through various media. In this reality, the standard employment type such as full-time employment due to employment instability gradually decreased and various irregular labor forms such as freelance or independent contractors and non-wage workers appeared. The number has increased in recent years, with the proportion of irregular labor forms in Korea as of 2018 the fifth highest in the OECD 35 countries [1,2]. Among the non-regular forms of labor, freelancers include non-wage workers, special workers, and one person business workers without employees, including all individuals who are not registered as business operators [3]. In the past, ‘freelancer’ was recognized as not a legal concept, nor a form of occupational group normally applied. However, the recent ‘freelancer’ is defined as a legal concept: Purpose: Corona-19 Infectious Diseases temporarily closed the workplace of speech therapists or temporarily suspended the work. Therefore, we investigated the current status of speech therapists in order to enact freelancer support ordinances of each local government and to urge language rehabilitation workers to support them.