THE Philippines is the second biggest source of digital workers worldwide, according to a new International Labour Organization (ILO) report.
In its latest World Employment and Social Outlook study, the labor arm of the United Nations said the country came next to India in terms of inflow of volume of work for outsourced jobs in digital labor platforms.
“A large proportion of this work is performed by workers in developing countries, particularly in India ($26 million), which accounts for almost 20 percent of the total market, followed by Philippines ($16 million) and Ukraine ($13 million),” ILO said.
The said outsourced jobs include a mix of low-skilled and high-skilled tasks, which mostly come from Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The data came from a 2019 study conducted by Oxford Internet Institute, which covered 200,000 projects from a “major freelance platform.”
Online challenges
ILO noted this could have increased during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, which forced more people to look for employment online as quarantine restrictions limited their movement outside of their homes.
It raised concern over the rise of online-based workers, who may be exposed to substandard working conditions, such as having irregular work and income.
“Half of online platform workers earn less than US$2 per hour. In addition, some platforms have significant gender pay gaps,” ILO said.
These workers also suffer from lack of access to social protection, freedom of association and collective bargaining rights, as well as long and unpredictable working hours.
This working condition, ILO said, could mostly be attributed to the terms and service agreement of online job platforms, which it noted is “blurring the previously clear distinction between employees and the self-employed.”
Social dialogue
ILO said these issues could be addressed through a global social dialogue among digital labor platforms, workers and government.
Among the issues which must be resolved would be the “correct” classification of the employment status of digital workers and transparency and accountability of algorithms for workers and businesses from the said platforms.
The digital workers should be given access to adequate social security benefits, right to bargain collectively, and access to courts of jurisdiction, where they are based.
“Digital labor platforms are opening up opportunities that did not exist before, particularly for women, young people, persons with disabilities and marginalized groups in all parts of the world. That must be welcomed,” ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said in a statement.
“The new challenges they present can be met through global social dialogue so that workers, employers and governments can fully and equally benefit from these advances. All workers, regardless of employment status, need to be able to exercise their fundamental rights at work,” he added.