Extending Social Insurance to Workers in the Platform Economy in Viet Nam : Part II - International Practices and Regulatory Approaches

Overview & Synopsis

The rapid growth of digital platform economies has created a significant and growing gap in social insurance coverage worldwide. As government of Viet Nam considers how to best extend social insurance to its growing platform workforce, international experience offers a range of policy pathways. Countries have adopted various legislative and administrative approaches. These efforts range from the legal reclassification of platform workers as employees, under certain circumstances, and hence mandating the platforms to enroll such workers into formal social insurance, to the design of customized voluntary contribution schemes that reflect the unique nature of platform work. In most cases, the process required defining a separate legal category of workers who operate through digital platforms. This report reviews these international efforts, beginning with the foundational challenge of defining the digital platform workforce and then exploring different models for integration into the social insurance system. This note provides an overview of current international regulatory approaches and country-specific practices for extending social security coverage to platform workers and freelancers. It builds on Part I, which reviews current practices in Viet Nam, provides legal review, and presents the findings of a large-scale survey of digital platform workers. While the report offers recommendations for developing provisions specifically for platform workers, several of its guiding principles may also be applicable to policy solutions for other sectors and occupations that remain largely outside the scope of social insurance coverage.