The Danger of Job Insecurity in the Platform Economy

Abstract

The rapid expansion of the platform economy has generated concerns about its economic and social consequences (Lei, 2021; Vallas, 2019). As independent contractors provided with little or no employee rights and managed by algorithms, the job insecurity of platform workers is significant. This damages employment relations, complicates the function of HR departments, and as a result is driving governments and relevant organisations to regulate the platform economy more heavily. This can provide platform workers with more benefits but can also result in gender discrimination and hinder the achievement of gender equality by increasing the gender pay gap. This report discusses three possible solutions to job insecurity among platform workers. Firstly, governments could provide them with similar rights to employees by creating a new category besides employees and independent contractors within existing law, although this would worsen labour market segmentation and social inequality. Secondly, alternative unions which are more flexible could effectively help platform workers to fight for their legal rights, but limited resources would reduce their ability to deal with the problems of every worker. Finally, platform workers could devote themselves to improve their bargaining power to strive for higher income to reduce insecurity, however, it would be hindered by many factors like oversupply of labour force. After analysing and comparing these three solutions, it is recommended that the job security of platform workers could be increased by incorporating them in a special labour law protecting non-standard workers. However, the effectiveness of this could vary from depending on country.