The profiles of the self-employed and platform workers in Russia

The study analyses the profiles of the self-employed and platform workers in Russia to gain a better understanding of the similarities and dissimilarities between these two groups, to assess the socio-economic risks these group face and identify ways of mitigating those risks. The profiles of the self-employed and platform workers are understood here as characteristics of the composition of these groups in terms of socio-demographic groups that they incorporate. The study uses data from the Federal Tax Service of Russia, Russian Committee for Statistics (workforce surveys, survey of the living conditions); own survey; and interviews with digital platform CEOs. The use of different sources of data has allowed to expand the list of indicators that characterize the special features of the self-employed and platform workers. Some of these characteristics have been described for the first time for instance, the poverty rate, duration of platform employment, etc. This, and also the new knowledge concerning the two employment forms represent the input of this study into the applied research. The spatial distribution of the self-employed and platform workers across regions and territories showed a high proportion of these forms of employment in big cities, as well as in the southern and the North Caucuses regions of Russia. A comparison of various databases showed that a large proportion of the self-employed and platform workers are engaged in the service sector. It also showed the younger age of the members of these two groups that that of the remaining workforce and their higher satisfaction with their health status. The share of persons without vocational training or those who work outside the profession for which they were trained among the self-employed and platform workers is higher than among the hired workforce. These groups are much more likely to have non-standard working hours. Data from different sources indicate that the financial positions of the self-employed and platform workers are not much different form one another. Among the self-employed, more than half are quite satisfied with their earnings (which may indicate that self-employment is a free choice), but the rate of satisfaction with job security is lower than that of hired personnel. The results allow to compare the profiles of self-employed and platform workers in Russia and with those of respective workers in other countries.