SINGAPORE: Most employees who relied on on-line platforms for revenue final yr had been aged 50 and older, although supply employees tended to be youthful given the bodily nature of their work, with the bulk aged under 40.
About 4 in 5 of these employees – principally supply employees, cabbies and private-hire automobile drivers – view such work as their most popular job, stated Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon in Parliament on Tuesday (April 5).
However, Dr Koh, who is adviser to a committee that’s reviewing the protection given to platform workers, stated there’s a lack of good knowledge when he was requested about different points, such because the proportion of ex-offenders engaged in such work.
“We will try to do some surveys on this but I think it is very hard for us to get very accurate data,” he stated in response to Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok).
“The landscape is very diverse… Whatever intervention we decide on, we need to have the flexibility to cater to the evolving needs of this group of workers,” he added.
Similarly, Dr Koh stated he didn’t have knowledge on what number of platform employees really contribute to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts on their very own accord, when requested by (*50*) of the Opposition Pritam Singh.
As self-employed folks, platform employees should contribute about 8% to 10.5% of their revenue to their MediSave accounts, however those who interact in such work casually could not achieve this.
Dr Koh stated the present evaluation is that about 45% of platform employees make some contribution to their MediSave, however the authorities are getting clearer knowledge from the CPF Board and the platform corporations.
As half of its public session, the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers has, to this point, reached out to greater than 20,000 platform employees and acquired about 1,200 submissions from them, Dr Koh added.
About 55% of the submissions indicated assist for necessary CPF contributions, with housing and then retirement essentially the most generally cited causes.
Dr Koh famous that there have been different surveys on platform work published recently, together with one collectively commissioned by Grab, Deliveroo and foodpanda.
In that survey, 43% of the 4,200 supply riders polled stated they contribute to their CPF accounts, however 61% stated they didn’t need contributions to be deducted from their gig work earnings.
Dr Koh stated some of the surveys didn’t seize the administration controls and challenges that the platform employees face. These employees’ concern in regards to the affect of necessary CPF contributions on their take-home earnings additionally means that they aren’t as well-paid as some surveys have tried to painting, he added.
Dr Koh stated the advisory committee can also be aware that platform corporations will face growing enterprise prices if they’ve to begin making necessary CPF contributions for platform employees.
But they’re no worse off than another firm using employees in the same sector, reminiscent of in logistics and transport, and platform corporations already make CPF contributions for his or her administration executives and administrative employees, he added.
He stated the authorities will develop acceptable mechanisms to make sure compliance ought to platform corporations be required make CPF contributions.
“The committee aims to provide practicable and sustainable recommendations, and is considering an appropriate phase-in period to allow the industry to adjust.”
On the longer-term profession prospects of platform employees, Dr Koh stated that there are measures already in place to assist this, such because the profession matching providers supplied by Workforce Singapore and the National Trades Union Congress.
Last yr, 8% of those who relied on platform work as their fundamental job switched to work primarily as an worker – a slight improve from the 5% to six% lately.
Said Dr Koh: “I don’t have the full data, but my sense is that it is a very disparate group. Some could be younger, some older, some could be more educated. Some, maybe because of their physical condition, realise that they need to do something that is less physically demanding.
“We need many different things to meet the different needs of different groups of people, and it is unlikely to be a one-size-fits-all solution nor a fixed archetype.”
The advisory committee is predicted to ship its suggestions by the second half of this yr.
In a separate query, Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio GRC) requested about MediSave contributions which might be in arrears.
In response, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng stated that a couple of quarter of self-employed individuals right here – who are chargeable for making their very own contributions to the nationwide medical financial savings scheme after declaring their revenue for the yr – are unable to fulfill these obligations in time.
Of these, about half of them have lower than S$3,000 in excellent liabilities.
Most of these self-employed people with excellent MediSave liabilities haven’t met their Basic Healthcare Sum, which is the estimated financial savings required for primary subsidised healthcare wants in a single’s outdated age.
Dr Tan emphasised that self-employed individuals have as much as two years to make the required MediSave contributions to qualify for Government schemes reminiscent of Workfare, which helps older low-wage Singaporeans who proceed working.
Less than 5% of appeals for Workfare had been from self-employed individuals requesting to waive their MediSave contribution necessities, he added.
Dr Tan famous that the CPF Board has been serving to folks who face difficulties in assembly MediSave obligations – by extending their Giro preparations to scale back month-to-month instalments; contemplating appeals on a case-by-case foundation; and exercising flexibility based mostly on appellants’ wants.
Support can also be obtainable by means of schemes such because the Covid-19 Recovery Grant and at Social Service Offices islandwide. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network
