Digital Forms of Employment in the Russian Labor Market. Part II. Platform Employment

Abstract

The paper analyzes digital forms of employment in the Russian labor market. The second part of the study examines platform employment which in recent years gained widespread adoption in the labor markets of most of the world (first part: Kapeliushnikov R. I., Zinchenko D. I. (2024) Digital Forms of Employment in the Russian LaborMarket. Part I. Distant Employment. Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes.No. 6. P. 157—181. https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2024.6.2654). The authors consider the definitions of platform work developed by international statistical organizations, the methodology of its measurement, and estimates of its level in different countries. Despite the existence of conventional definitions for this form of atypical employment, there is enormous variability in its quantitative estimates. The sources of these discrepancies are discussed in detail.

On the Russian labor market, platform employment also experienced a rapid growth in the 2020s. The paper provides empirical analysis of its scale, dynamics, and socio-demographic profile using microdata of the Rosstat Labor Force Survey for 2022—2023. A comparison of the Russian experience with the international one shows that in Russia the prevalence of platform employment is higher than in most developed countries reaching a level of 4%. However, in the period under consideration, it demonstrated a strong downward trend. The structure of platform employment is highly polarized, including, on the one hand, high-skilled workers (freelancers), but, on the other, unskilled ones (delivery couriers, taxi drivers). The results obtained provide no grounds to expect that digital forms of employment could soon displace standard employment.

Acknowledgements. This study was implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the HSE University.