Researching Filipino Creative Freelance Labor

Exploring and documenting the economic realities and systemic gaps of freelance creatives across the Philippines.

Our Research Objectives

Kahulugan

Meanings

We analyze how Filipino freelancers define and give value to their work through the meanings, language, and cultural logics they use to describe and legitimize their labor.

Positions

Katayuan

We look at how freelancers navigate entry, participation, and exit within the field and how workers locate themselves among others based on the economic, social, cultural, and symbolic capital they hold.

Negotiation

Kalakaran

We explore how freelancers negotiate between freedom and security, and how they tactically navigate the field in everyday practice, weighing risk against the meanings and capital they've built.

Disposition

Kaugalian

We look at the repeated practice of freelance creatives and attempt to understand their solidified dispositions and how this influences their perspectives on freelance labor.

The Freelance Reality

55%

Of 65 surveyed freelance and contract workers in broadcast media and theatre, unstable income was the most common challenge reported, followed by long working hours (47%) and unpaid working hours (44%). (Castillo et al., 2025)

Report unstable income

65%

41%

Work as independent contractors

Lack access to social security and benefits

Of 65 surveyed creative industry workers, nearly two-thirds are independent contractors, compared to just 8% in regular employment. (Castillo et al., 2025)

Nearly half of respondents report no access to social protection, leaving them exposed to income shocks and health risks between projects. (Castillo et al., 2025)

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Make Creative Labor Visible

Your experiences today will shape the future of freelance creatives in the Philippines.