Quality of employment on digital labor platforms: approaches to measurement and assessments for BRICS countries

In the article, the authors turn to the study of platform employment in the context of its quality. The subject of the article is platform employment and digital labor platforms (DLPs). The object of the study is the quality of employment on DLPs. The study used analytical information from open sources, data from Russian and international statistics, and reports from international organizations. Based on statistical data, socio-demographic portraits of platform workers in BRICS countries are formulated. The authors also provided a critical analysis of the methods used to measure the quality of employment and carried out an assessment of the quality of employment on platforms for several countries, based on reports from Fairwork and open data. They conclude that it is a high degree of differentiation in the quality of employment on DLPs depending on the way of performing work (online or offline), the presence of platform work as the only employment of the worker, the degree of control of the platform over the worker and the type of work performed. Additional labor characteristics, in addition to the lack of social protection, are identified that worsen the quality of platform employment compared to traditional employment. Based on an analysis of the methodologies of the European Fund and the international European project Fairwork, it is illustrated that for many workers, the deteriorating characteristics of the quality of platform employment are such parameters as the volume of employment (excessive or insufficient), the balance of work and other areas of life, diversity of working tasks, labor cooperation, social interaction, opportunities for development and professional growth of workers.