Claire Courteille – Mulder Director ILO Country Office for China and Mongolia

1. International Conference The impact ofprecarious employment and responses from East Asian experience Claire Courteille – Mulder Director ILO Country Office for China and Mongolia Hong-Kong June22-23 2019

2. Definitions and trends What is precarious work? No international legal definition • Job instability, uncertainty • Income insecurity • Low wage and benefits • No or little prospect for progression • No or limited rights at work • No or inadequate access to social protection • No voice at work • ….

3. Informal employment ≠ work in the informal economy • Employment in the informal sector : All jobs in informal sector enterprises - “Enterprise-based definition”– 15th ICLS 1993 • Informal employment: All informal jobs, whether carried out in formal sector enterprises, informal sector enterprises, or households - “Job-based definition”– 17th ICLS 2003 • Informal economy - All economic activities by workers and economic units that are – in law or in practice – not covered or insufficiently covered by formal arrangements - 90th ILC 2002 + Recommendation 204 Informal employment is defined in terms of the employment relationship and the protections associated with the job of the worker.

4. Informal employment in the formal sector occurs when there is no recognized labour relation and no payment of social security contribution or taxes from the employer on behalf of the employee. It can take the form of undeclared work, casual jobs, jobs with hours of work or wages below a specified threshold 60% of the workers worldwide (2 billions) work in the informal economy The share of informal employment is close to 90% in developing countries, 67% in emerging countries and is just below 20% in developed countries.

5. Selected Asian countries: share of informal employment (%, 2016) Source:ILO. 2018. Women and men in the informal economy: A statistical picture.

6. Definitions and trends - Non-standard employment Multi-party employment relationship Temporary employment Disguised employment/ dependent self-employment Part-time and on-call work

7. And new forms… Digital labour platforms: Web-based Location-based

8. Trends in NSFE • In over 150 countries, the average use of temporary employees in registered private sector firms is 11% • Women represent 57% of part-time employees. • Casual employment is a prominent feature of labour markets in developing countries, and has grown in importance in industrialized countries. In Australia, where casual employment is a specific employment category, 1 out of 4 employees is casual. • Diversification of part-time work into very short hours or on-call work, including “zero-hours” contracts (with no guaranteed minimum hours) in advanced economies (10% of the US workforce have irregular and on-call work schedules – 2,5% of UK workers on zero hour contract in 2015 • Data on temporary agency work (and other multiple parties contractual relationship) are scarce. Asia in particular has witnessed the growth of various forms of dispatched, agency, subcontracted or outsourced work throughout the past decades.

9. Trends: Online gig jobs: Rapid expansion especially in software and multimedia Index of job postings on online gig platforms, May 2016 to January 2018 (May 2016 = 100) Source: University of Oxford: Online Labour Index.

10. Online gig jobs: Half filled by four Asian countries where informality pervasive Top 20 suppliers of online labour, as of January 2018 (%) Source: University of Oxford: Online Labour Index.

11. Implications for workers in NSFE Working conditions Stepping stone or trap

12. The upside • New income and employment opportunities • Provides buffer jobs during industrial restructuring • Opportunities for non-specialists and persons at the margins of the labour force to access labourmarket • Flexibility to choose when and where to work, decide what task to perform and how to organize work

13. The downside • Insufficient work and high intensity • Low wages and no social security benefits • Unpaid time • Lack of clear employment relationship (entrepreneurs or exploited workers?) • Repetitive content of work and lack of skills development • Lack of responsiveness to workers’ concerns

14. Trends: Will On-demand platform jobs exacerbate informality? Profile of on-demand motorbike taxi drivers in Jakarta, May-June 2016 (%) Note: N=205; Source: V. Fanggidae et al (2016).

15. ILO Responses • Transitioning from the informal to the formal economy (R.204) • Plugging the regulatory gaps on the employment relationship (R. 198) • Universal social and labour protection (R. 202 + Centenary Declaration) Strengthening social dialogue and collective bargaining

16. 1. Recommendation No. 204 • Integrated policy framework to progressively facilitate the transition and prevent informalization • Respect, promote and enforce the fundamental principles and rights at work of those in the informal economy(enabling environment) • Progressively extend, in law and practice, to all workers in the informal economy: • OHS (sense of urgency) • social security including maternity protection • a minimum wage • … • decent working conditions

17. 1. Recommendation No. 204 Tools to improve compliance and facilitate the transition: • Reducing compliance costs • Providing incentives (access to credit, information) • Strengthening and extending inspection • Ensuring efficient complaint and appeal proceduresfor workers • Adopting effective sanctions • Facilitating access to social protection • …..

18. 2. Recommendation No. 198 Employment relationship: - is the main vehicle through which workers gain access to the rights and benefits associated with employment - is the key point of reference for determining the nature and extent of rights and obligations of workers and employers • Increased number of workers lack protection because of • the scope of the law is too narrow • the law is poorly or ambiguously formulated • the employment relationship is disguised

19. 2. Recommendation No.198 Calls for the formulation and application of a national policy to guarantee effective protection for workers who perform work in the context of an employment relationship. National policy should include measures to: • provide guidance on the distinction between employed and self-employed workers; • combat disguised employment relationships • ensure standards applicable to all forms of contractual arrangements, including those involving multiple parties • …

20. 2. Recommendation No. 198 Determining the existence of an employment relationship: • rely on broad range of means • be guided primarily by the facts • consider include a legal presumption that an employment relationship exists where one or more relevant indicators is present • be guided by objective criteria such as subordination or dependence. The settlement of disputes should be a matter for tribunals or arbitration authorities to which workers and employers have effective access

21. 3. Universal protection Increased diversity of forms of employment calls for the establishment of universal minimal protection regardless of the employment status • ILO Recommendation No 202 on social protection floors • Universal labour guarantee as proposed by the ILO Global Commission report of January 2019.

22. 3. Universal protection Centenary Declaration adopted on June 21 2019: Strengthen the capacities of all people to benefit from the opportunities of a changing world of work through: (i) the effective realization of gender equality in opportunities and treatment (ii) effective lifelong learning and quality education for all (iii) universal access to comprehensive and sustainable social protection (iv) effective measures to support people through the increasing transitions they will face throughout their working lives

23. 3. Universal protection Centenary Declaration adopted on June 21 2019 “Strengthening the institutions of work to ensure adequate protection of all workers, and reaffirming the continued relevance of the employment relationship as a means of providing certainty and legal protection to workers, while recognizing the extent of informality and the need to ensure effective action to achieve transition to formality. All workers should enjoy adequate protection in accordance with the Decent Work Agenda, taking into account: (i) respect for their fundamental rights (ii) an adequate minimum wage, statutory or negotiated (iii) maximum limits on working time (iv) safety and health at work”

24. Thank You!