The bar chart illustrates the proportions of freelancers of the total workforce across five different countries – the Russian Republic, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Greece, and Turkey – in 1998 and 2008.
Overall, Turkey and Greece, despite declining significantly over the period, had the highest percentages of freelancers. Meanwhile, the figures rose modestly in the remaining countries.
In 1998, close to 55% of self-employed workers accounted for the total workforce – the highest figure recorded in the chart. However, this fell sharply to just below 40%, still ranking first among the five. Likewise, Greece also exhibited declining patterns, dropping substantially from around 43% in 1998 to nearly 35% in 2008.
As for Slovakia and the Czech Republic, both grew slightly, with the former reaching to roughly 11% and the latter rising marginally to 15% by the end of the period. The Russian Republic, by contrast, remained relatively lower than the other five, hovering around 7% in both years.