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Reshaping Work: Opportunities and Challenges in Platform Work


With rapid technological advances and increased online connectivity, business models have been reshaping and the nature of work are changing. One of the important transformations in the world of work is the use of digital labor platforms (ex. Grab, Gawin.ph, UpWork), which bring customers and providers of goods and services together and provide employment opportunities. As the online platform grown in scale and value, it significantly disrupts the general concept of “normal jobs.” The question of the employment relationship, in which like many literatures points out as the “grey area” is the most crucial aspect of online platform work and its implication for labor law. While flexibility is the main motivation, compounded with the lack of available jobs, the ambiguous employment status of platform workers creates specific challenges to working conditions, that resulted to decent work deficits (i.e. lack of social security, lesser representation, lower pay due to race-to-the-bottom). At present, the country has no existing policy regarding platform work as it is not in the realm of the Labor Code. However, policymakers need to rethink the concept of job or work where it can act on several fronts, namely, employment regulation, social dialogue, and social protection, among others.

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