With the rise of the gig economy, the protection of platform workers has become a priority for governments and social security institutions around the world. The International Social Security Association (ISSA) has gathered unique country data on these developments and set up a portal for easy access to relevant information and resources.
The rapid rise of digital work platforms over the last decade has provided new job opportunities for millions of people around the world, but also represents new challenges in terms of social and labour protection for the platform workers. This has been, and is being, addressed by international and regional organizations, national governments, social security institutions and others.
The ISSA has now launched a Protection of platform workers portal, which provides new and unique country data, as well as relevant analysis, publications, news and events. The new portal provides an overview by country of initiatives and information on the legal framework, implementation, working conditions, transparency of data for social security coverage and labour protection. As a first step, data has been gathered for 19 countries and the European Union. The database and the portal will be gradually expanded.
The relevance of the area has been widely recognized and countries are increasingly developing policies and measures. In particular, the protection of platform workers has been on the agenda of the G20 Employment Working Group. In February 2023, the ISSA together with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) delivered a paper to the working group on Providing adequate and sustainable social protection for workers in the gig and platform economy. In July 2023, the G20 Ministers of Labour and Employment adopted G20 Policy Priorities on this topic, followed up the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration in September 2023, which stressed the need for adequate social protection and decent working conditions for gig and platform workers.
The ISSA has held technical seminars and also published several articles and publications analysing international and regional developments in social security and the protection of platform workers. The new portal provides easy access to these, as well as a new news monitor on the issue and relevant ISSA events.