Govt of Karnataka-ILO organize technical consultation on extending social protection to gig and platform workers

The digital economy has been expanding at a rapid pace and gaining prominence globally. Digital labour platforms are a distinct part of the digital economy and have risen fivefold in the past decade globally in the taxi and delivery sector on location-based platforms and online labour platforms. There has been a tremendous increase in the number of digital labour platforms in developing countries, and they are being embraced with the hope of creating gainful employment opportunities.

As observed by Guy Rider, former Director General of the ILO, “Digital labour platforms have the potential to benefit both workers and businesses – and through them, society more generally. But they will only fulfil this positive potential and help us achieve the Sustainable Development Goals if the work opportunities they provide are decent. Ensuring that all workers, irrespective of their contractual status, are covered by key labour standards will be critical, as will social dialogue .”

From a social protection lens, the vulnerability of platform workers during the COVID-19 crisis highlighted the need to address the significant social protection gaps, including their lack of access to unemployment insurance and job retention schemes, sickness benefits and health protection. Providing adequate and sustainable social protection to this growing group of workers is essential not only for the workers themselves but also to safeguard and promote the efficiency of the labour market and fair competition. Given that several states are in the process of finding suitable ways to ensure social protection for platform-based gig workers, a one-day technical consultation was conducted in Bangalore, Karnataka, to deliberate social protection, areas that are beneficial to the learnings of key stakeholders.

The key objective of the consultation was to convene key stakeholders for effective scheme design and development of an action plan for implementing social protection for gig and platform workers in India. The consultation was jointly hosted by the Labour Department, the Government of Karnataka, and the ILO DWT/CO-New Delhi.