Platform employment specifics in Russia: what the data of workers’ online profiles indicate

The article discusses platform employment issues and aims to systematize and provide an overview of current knowledge about the state and structure of platform employment in Russia. It also aims to assess the position and status of platform workers based on previously published research, new official statistical data, and the results of our own empirical research using data from the digital platform Profi.ru for Moscow and the Moscow region as of 2023. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were addressed: systematizing available estimates of the platform labor market in Russia, analyzing the primary statistical data from Rosstat on platform employment, and creating a profile of a typical Russian employed person in this segment. Approaches to studying employment on digital platforms were also tested by downloading open data on platform workers directly from the platforms' websites in order to enrich statistical data and gain a better understanding of platform employment specifics. We conclude that the platform employment structure is institutionalized within social practices and is gradually approaching the general employment structure in terms of basic socio-demographic characteristics. However, it still has its own unique features. For example, the average age of platform workers is lower than that of the overall employed population. Platform workers are predominantly male and urban residents. At the same time, platforms, particularly those providing physical services on a local level, are characterized by a predominance of traditionally vulnerable groups in the labor market, such as women aged 20-29 and 3039 with young children, students, and young people without work experience. Migrants and individuals without professional qualifications are also overrepresented among platform workers. Data from the Profi. ru website indicates that these workers are mainly employed in the informal economy. More than 10% of the profiles on the platform in question are "false", that is, they belong to organizations, teams, or groups of performers (formal or informal) rather than individuals.