Platform Work As a Challenge for Decent Employment and Social Protection for Workers (the case of Russia)

A significant portion of labor practices and employment relations have moved to the digital space. In some instances, this has substantially altered the nature of work, introducing new forms of activity and new parties to relationships (platforms as intermediaries in worker-employer or customer-contractor interactions), all of which remain under-regulated by the state. So, traditional issues of social protection for workers employed through digital platforms are becoming more relevant, require rethinking and finding new solutions. These solutions cannot be found without defining the legal status of workers, clarifying their employment status in terms of dependency/independency; understanding the mechanisms of regulating relations between employers, workers and platforms; exploring mechanisms for ensuring social justice, equality of rights and opportunities; developing criteria for quality of workplaces and labour relations.

In the study, we are trying to find answers to these questions. We examined a dataset downloaded from Profi.ru - one of the most popular digital employment platforms in Russia with a wide variety of services. Data collection was conducted during 2023, contains profiles of 935,312 Russian performers registered on the platform. Preliminary analysis showed: the majority (about 90%) of Russian platform workers are employed in the informal economy. Their socio-demographic structure gradually approaches the structure of general employment, although it still has its own characteristics, with more young people and urban residents. At the same time, the share of people without vocational education is noticeably higher in the platform segment due to ample employment opportunities for them (couriers, taxi drivers, domestic staff, etc.). It was revealed that some personal accounts (about 10%) hide groups of workers or intermediaries who redistribute orders among performers (show business services, repairs, cleaning, etc.). Based on results obtained and other studies, the author assesses social risks and positive effects of platforms employment, suggests solutions to the issues noted above.