December 13, 2022

In ‘Platform firms must not exploit protection for platform workers for more profit’ (The Straits Times, November 2022), Professor Sumit Agarwal (NUS Departments of Finance, Real Estate, and Economics) discusses the importance of ensuring strong social protections for the labour force.

A strong social safety net, including the provision of retirement security, medical insurance and workplace safety, offers workers the peace of mind to carry out their work. However, protection offered by a social safety net is often not extended to platform workers, e.g., delivery riders and private-hire drivers. They are classified as freelance contractors rather than employees by digital platforms, so the platforms do not need to contribute insurance and CPF on the workers’ behalf. Hence, work welfare offered to platform workers is largely up to the platforms’ discretion.

As the number of platform workers continues growing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof Agarwal argues that digital platforms should also offer better protection for these workers. Baseline protections against workplace injuries, sickness and other accidents endangering workers’ income should be provided. Although this may not be palatable in light of rising inflation, stronger worker protection improves social equity and sustainability of the digital economy.

Recently, the Singapore Advisory Panel on Platform Workers has introduced CPF payments, insurance and other policies to better protect platform workers. While it is certainly welcome, Prof Agarwal also raised a few concerns. For instance, the new policy may prompt platforms to hire workers aged above 30, thus avoiding paying employer’s contribution for CPF. Thus, it might be better to make it a default for employers to pay CPF for all platform workers.

Read the article in The Straits Times here: https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/platform-firms-must-not-exploit-protection-for-platform-workers-for-more-profit