The second half of the XX century was marked by a dramatic change in the information sector of the economy, which led to the serious transformation in traditional labor relations. There have appeared new forms of mass employment such as freelance and telejob. However in Russia this subject has not been studied yet while there is a large number of relevant empirical and theoretical studies carried out in the developed countries The paper presents a review of Western quantitative studies devoted to freelance and conducted since the beginning of the 2000s. The following issues are refl ected upon: elaboration of new terminology, cross-country freelance statistics, advantages and disadvantages of freelance, motivation of freelancers, structure of work process; relations between freelancers and their customers; and professional communities of freelancers.