Pilot survey in Viet Nam: A promising start in defining digital platform employment

HA NOI (ILO News) - The pilot survey, which was conducted by the General Statistics Office (GSO) of Viet Nam, with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO), was implemented through a special module appended to the Labour Force Survey and revealed crucial practical lessons that can be applied in future survey rounds and by other countries.

The pilot survey was implemented in Hanoi and Phu Tho province, in December 2023.

It was conducted as Viet Nam has become one of the countries which has successfully harnessed digital platforms into a competitive advantage, becoming the fastest growing digital economy in South-East Asia.

This growth, which is expected to continue, can be primarily attributed to the rapid adoption of digital financial services and strong support from the private sector and the Government.

However, there is no official statistics on digital platform employment (DPE) nationwide. Similar to other countries, policymakers and researchers in Viet Nam face a multitude of key challenges in measuring DPE. These include the lack of internationally agreed and harmonized statistical standards, conceptual, and measurement frameworks related to DPE.

The production of statistics on DPE is critical to strengthen the legislative and policy frameworks governing digital platforms and to protect digital platform workers.

No internationally agreed standards

Currently, there are no internationally agreed statistical standards for the measurement of DPE.

The variations in the conceptual frameworks used to measure DPE around the world, such as the length of the survey reference period and approaches to identify digital labour platforms, limit the comparability across countries.

Prior efforts have been undertaken to harmonize its scope and definition. For instance, the Resolution of the 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) addressed the group of dependent contractors including those working in the 'gig economy', where work organization or client access is often mediated through an Internet application controlled by a third party.

The 20th ICLS also recommended further study to develop concepts and methodologies for measuring workers whose employment is intermediated through Internet-based platforms or apps.

Further conceptual and methodological refinement needed

The pilot survey suggests that future survey rounds should focus on further refining the method to measurement DPE.

These include adjustments under three aspects: reference population and sampling frame; questionnaire design; and implementation and monitoring.

Digital platform workers who are temporarily not engaged in this type of work could be better captured by adjusting the reference period for DPE beyond the past four weeks. The sampling frame of the DPE survey can also be expanded beyond those currently employed to include the working-age population and those who are economically inactive and unemployed.

In addition, the survey questionnaire can be revised by adding and revising screening questions designed to effectively contextualize DPE and limit false positives and false negatives.

Aside from the identification of specific platform names and excluding digital platform users, these questions can cover various aspects of DPEs, such as the level of dependency of the respondents on the application and the proportion of income derived from the digital platform.

The pilot survey involved good practices including the formulation of detailed survey plans, integration of flexible data collection mechanisms and direct interviews, and rigorous training sessions for all survey personnel.

“Statistical agencies of other countries can adopt good practices in Viet Nam in terms of implementing and monitoring a pilot DPE survey,” the report says.

Additionally, the Government, employers and trade unions should work towards eliminating exclusions of own-account workers in the law. Actively promoting development of legislation that includes the right to organize, bargain collectively and participate in the process of making relevant policies and laws for own-account workers and informal workers is key.

In addition, the Government should promote the establishment of cooperatives and enterprise registration. Given that most workers in informal employment, including those within the formal sector, are unaware of their legal rights, it is crucial to address this issue through awareness raising.

Furthermore, the report recommends that the Government should enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the labour inspection regime to prevent the informalization of employment within the formal sector.

“The transition from the informal to formal economy can help Viet Nam to eliminate inequality of outcomes between the informal and formal economy and the race to the bottom of lowering workers’ standards in the formal sector, in particular, as well as in the formal economy, in general,” the report says.