Platform work in Russia: employment features and precarization risks

About the author:

Galina V. Leonidova, Cand. Sci. (Econ.), Associate Professor, Leading Researcher, Ufa University of Science and Technology, Ufa, Russia; Vologda Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vologda, Russia; galinaleonidova@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0361-2099, https://www.webof-science.com/wos/author/record/I-7139-2016

Abstract:

This article analyzes the features of platform employment in Russia and the related employment risks of workers on digital platforms or Internet services for finding work. The empirical base includes open data from sociological surveys on this survey by the Higher School of Economics and the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The object of the study is employees of non-standard forms of employment, including participants in digital labor platforms. The results have revealed that platform employment has precarization risks, since employees have no defined employment status and weak social protection of workers. Non-standard forms of employment, which can also include platform employment, have both their advantages (higher wages, greater freedom in choosing the boundaries of working hours, work and rest) and disadvantages (lack of a mechanism for protecting labor rights and social guarantees, irregular schedules and overworking). The features of platform workers portrait are highlighted, mostly similar to those described in a number of other academic publications: predominance of the male workforce, urban residents, mainly with higher and secondary specialized professional education, and middle age. The author shows that the lack of social security, as the main criterion for the risks of precarious employment, is perceived by employees in terms of their preferences. The data indicate a lower quality of those whose work is associated with a traveling nature (courier, driver), part-time work, shift work. At the same time, platform workers and people with flexible work schedules have higher quality indices of labor potential than the average for the region’s population. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of applying its results in assessing the scale of employment on platform services.

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