Lubov Filin delivered a report at the 9th St. Petersburg International Labor Forum

During the session «The Role of Platform Employment in Economic Stabilization: Radius of Opportunities» Lyubov Filin presented a report on the main characteristics of digital employment platforms and noted that platform employment is not only an economic, but also a significant social phenomenon that requires clear and well-founded regulatory solutions.

Lyubov Filin emphasized the need to distinguish digital employment platforms (DEP) from other platforms: not every digital platform is a digital employment platform. The key difference between DEP is its active intervention in the relationship between the customer and the performer, including the organization of interaction between the employed and the customer, determination of the cost of the performer’s services, control over the quality and progress of the service, and algorithmic assignment of performers.

Based on the study of the best international regulatory practices, the expert identified two main approaches to the regulation of platform employment:
1. The regulator defines the signs of platform employment (European Union, India (federal level and the state of Rajasthan);
2. The regulator defines the areas where the platform employment model is most often realized: cab, food delivery (USA, South Korea, India (federal level)).

However, according to Lyubov Filin, both these approaches lead to the same effect — true digital employment platforms, which organize the interaction between the employed and the customer, fall under regulation.

At the same time, the expert noted that the Russian draft Federal Law «On Platform Economy» does not distinguish digital employment platforms as separate types of platforms, which leads to a lack of differentiation of various types of digital platforms.

At the end of her presentation, Lyubov Filin emphasized the contribution of digital employment platforms to whitewashing the shadow sector: «due to their IT-technologies, digital employment platforms are able to ‘whitewash’ the so-called self-employment regime, most often used by platform workers, by controlling that relations with self-employment tax (SET) payers do not turn into labor relations».

In general, it was noted at the forum that platform employment has contributed to the welfare of citizens. Particular attention was paid to the need to raise awareness of platform employment about voluntary social insurance. For example, a person employed in the format of a «constructor» on a digital platform can choose insurance products he/she needs and purchase them.

Report presentation >>>