The Gig Economy Dilemma: Exploring Alternatives to Create Decent Work for Online Motorcycle Taxi Drivers in Indonesia

Henriko Tobing

Abstract

GIG economy, or better known as the platform economy because of its use of technology, has become a world economic phenomenon that has developed rapidly in the last decade, including in Indonesia. It cannot be denied that the GIG economy has had a positive impact on increasing employment opportunities or at least suppressing the spike in unemployment amidst the current crisis. However, this economic model raises a new problem related to workers' protection issues. This research aims to present various alternatives that can be used to create decent work for ojol drivers in Indonesia. A literature review was conducted to capture existing solutions and then adapt them to the current Indonesian context. The results of the research suggest: 1) Ministry of Manpower initiates a testing process for the terminology "partner" or "worker" for ojol drivers so that their work relationship status becomes clear and the results of this test can become the basis for formulating further regulations, 2) Ministry of Manpower can expand the definition of three elements contained in an employment relationship are work, wages and orders, 3) utilizing the existence of a community or "paguyuban" of ojol drivers as a representative voice of ojol drivers and several other alternatives which can be found in this article.

Full text article

Generated from XML file

References

Abdul Manaf, H., Mohamed, A. M., & Zahrin, Z. (2022). Exploring Regulatory Policies on E-Hailing Services in Malaysia. Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, 209(Iconpo 2021), 569–571.
Albornoz, M., & Chavez, H. (2024). The challenges of gig economy and Fairwork in Ecuador.pdf. Digital Geography and Society.
Anazah, N. S., Tobing, H., Nasution, F. A., & Muhyiddin. (2023). Kondisi Kerja dalam Relasi Kemitraan: Studi Kasus pada Mitra Perusahaan Transportasi Online.
Azahar, S. (2020). Rise of Gig Economy. The Sun Daily, August, 1–5. https://www.thesundaily.my/opinion/rise-of-gig-economy-AK4491398
Bandyopadhyay, P. K., & Pandey, B. (2020). Legitimacy of the Right to Form Digital Labour Union/Association in Developing Economy. In Handbook of Business Legitimacy: Responsibility, Ethics and Society (pp. 1187–1203). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14622-1_94
Behrendt, C., Nguyen, Q. A., & Rani, U. (2019). Social protection systems and the future of work: Ensuring social security for digital platform workers. International Social Security Review, 72(3), 17–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12212
BPS. (2022). Indikator Pekerjaan Layak di Indonesia 2022. Badan Pusat Statistik. https://doi.org/10.22146/jp.22587
Chudinovskikh, M. (2022). Digital Labor Platforms: Opportunities, Risks, and Perspectives for Decent Work.
Corujo, B. S. (2017). The ‘Gig’ Economy and its Impact on Social Security: The Spanish example. European Journal of Social Security, 19(4), 293–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/1388262717745751
De Ruyter, A., & Rachmawati, R. (2020). Understanding the Working Conditions of Gig Workers and Decent Work: Evidence from Indonesia’s online Ojek Riders. Sozialpolitik.Ch, 2(2/2020). https://doi.org/10.18753/2297-8224-159
De Stefano, V. (2015). The Rise Of The “ Just-In- Time Workforce”: On-Demand Work, Crowd Work And Labour P Rotection In The “Gi G- Economy”. Valerio De Stefano *. Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, 37(3), 471–503. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2682602
Dihni, V. A. (2023). Senja Kala Profesi Ojek Onine. In Kata Data (pp. 1–1). https://katadata.co.id/ariayudhistira/analisisdata/6436ac5d9a7f4/senja-kala-profesi-ojek-online
Etzioni, A. (1993). The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities, and the Communitarian Agenda. Crown Publishers, Inc./New York. https://doi.org/10.2307/352886
Faiz, A. (2022). Kenaikan Tarif Ojek Online di Mata Pengguna dan Pengemudi. Polling Institute, 16–24.
Fielbaum, A., & Tirachini, A. (2021). The sharing economy and the job market: the case of ride-hailing drivers in Chile. Transportation, 48(5), 2235–2261. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-020-10127-7
Fukuyama, F. (1998). Social Capital: The Great Disruption. The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, 19, 377–484.
Ginting, A. L. (2020). Dampak Angka Harapan Hidup dan Kesempatan Kerja Terhadap Kemiskinan. EcceS (Economics, Social, and Development Studies), 7(1), 42. https://doi.org/10.24252/ecc.v7i1.13197
Graham, M., Hjorth, I., & Lehdonvirta, V. (2017). Digital labour and development: impacts of global digital labour platforms and the gig economy on worker livelihoods. Transfer, 23(2), 135–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1024258916687250
Habermas, J. (1991). The Structural Transformation of Public Sphere an Inquiry into a Category of Burgeois Society. The MIT Press. http://courses.ischool.berkeley.edu/i218/s15/Habermas_STBPS_I.Intro.pdf
Heeks, R. (2017). Decent Work and the Digital Gig Economy:A Developing Country Perspective on Employment Impacts and Standardsin Online Outsourcing, Crowdwork, etc.
Heeks, R., Graham, M., Mungai, P., Van Belle, J. P., & Woodcock, J. (2021). Systematic evaluation of gig work against decent work standards: The development and application of the Fairwork framework. Information Society, 37(5), 267–286. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2021.1942356
Inshyn, M., Vakhonieva, T., Korotkikh, A., Denysenko, A., & Dzhura, K. (2021). Transformation of labor legislation in the digital economy. InterEULawEast, 8(1), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.22598/iele.2021.8.1.3
Inversi, C., Dundon, T., & Buckley, L. A. (2022). Work in the Gig-Economy: The Role of the State and Non-State Actors Ceding and Seizing Regulatory Space. Work, Employment and Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170221080387
Iqraam, M., & Sudibia, I. K. (2018). ISSN 2303-017 Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis Universitas Udayana , Bali , Indonesia Kemiskinan telah menjadi masalah yang komplek dan kronis baik di tingkat nasional maupun regional , sehingga penanggulangannya memerlukan strategi yang tepat dan berkelanjuta. 1200–1229.
Izzati, N. R. (2024). Dampak Peraturan pada Pendapatan Ojek Online. Korantempo.
Izzati, N. R., & Sesunan, M. M. G. (2022). ‘Misclassified Partnership’ and the Impact of Legal Loophole on Workers. Bestuur, 10(1), 57–67. https://doi.org/10.20961/bestuur.v10i1.62066
Kaine, S., & Josserand, E. (2019). The organisation and experience of work in the gig economy. Journal of Industrial Relations, 61(4), 479–501. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022185619865480
katadata. (2019). Pangsa Pasar Layanan Transportasi Online Indonesia Terbesar di ASEAN. Katadata. https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2018/11/29/pangsa-pasar-layanan-transportasi-online-indonesia-terbesar-di-asean
Khan, M. H., Williams, J., Williams, P., & Mayes, R. (2023). Caring in the Gig Economy: A Relational Perspective of Decent Work. Work, Employment and Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170231173586
KumparanTECH. (2020). Organisasi Ojol: Ada 4 Juta Driver Ojol di Indonesia. https://kumparan.com/kumparantech/organisasi-ojol-ada-4-juta-driver-ojol-di-indonesia-1tBrZLEXOEI/full
MacDonald, R., & Giazitzoglu, A. (2019). Youth, enterprise and precarity: or, what is, and what is wrong with, the ‘gig economy’? Journal of Sociology, 55(4), 724–740. https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783319837604
Manriquez, M. (2019). Work-games in the gig-economy: A case study of Uber drivers in the city of Monterrey, Mexico. Research in the Sociology of Work, 33, 165–188. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-283320190000033010
Mexi, M. (2019). Gig economy and its Implications for Social Dialogue and Workers’ Protection. September, 43.
Minter, K. (2017). Negotiating labour standards in the gig economy: Airtasker and Unions New South Wales. Economic and Labour Relations Review, 28(3), 438–454. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304617724305
Montgomery, T., & Baglioni, S. (2021). Defining the gig economy: platform capitalism and the reinvention of precarious work. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 41(9–10), 1012–1025. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-08-2020-0400
Muhamad, N. (2023). Penduduk Bekerja Indonesia Didominasi oleh Lulusan SD ke Bawah pada Agustus 2023.
Nababan, W. M. (2023). 20 Juta Pekerja Bergantung pada Platform Digital. Kompas.Id, 1–12.
Novianto, A., Wulansari, A. D., & Keban, Y. T. (2023). Searching for better job: Indonesian gig workers and the limits of decent work agendas. Work Organisation Labour & Globalisation, 89. http://www.nber.org/papers/w16019
Pérez, C., Hunt, A., & Sarwar, M. B. (2022). Organizing Workers in the Informal Economy in Selected African and Latin American Countries: The Potential of Trade Union and Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) partnerships. CIRIEC-Espana Revista de Economia Publica, Social y Cooperativa, 105, 93–114. https://doi.org/10.7203/CIRIEC-E.105.24261
Permana, M. Y. (2023). Kebijakan Isu Hubungan Industrial dan Jaminan Sosial Perihal Kemitraan dalm Sektor Transportasi Online.
Putri, T. E., Darmawan, P., & Heeks, R. (2023). What is fair? The experience of Indonesian gig workers.
Raval, N., & Lalvani, S. (2022). The Moral Economy of Platform Work. In Asiascape: Digital Asia (Vol. 9, Issues 1–2). https://doi.org/10.1163/22142312-bja10031
Reilly, K. M. A., & Lozano-Paredes, L. H. (2019). Ride hailing regulations in cali, Colombia: Towards autonomous and decent work. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 551, 425–435. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18400-1_35
Ridho, M. G., & Suryono, A. (2021). Jaminan Sosial Ketenagakerjaan Pengemudi Ojek Online (Studi Peraturan Menteri Perhubungan Nomor 12 Tahun 2019). Privat Law, 9(2), 319–327.
Septiani, L. (2022). Ditegur DPR , Ini Alasan Grab Tak Terapkan Tarif Aplikasi 15 %. November, 1–7.
Sibuea, H. Y. P. (2018). Uji Materi Pengemudi Ojek Online Terhadap UU Nomor 22 Tahun 2009 Tentang Lalu Lintas dan Angkutan Jalan. Info Singkat, X.
Sinha, D., & Pandit, D. (2023). Assessing the economic sustainability of gig work: A case of hyper-local.pdf. Research in Transportation Economics.
Siti Chodijah, & Mochamad Ridho Fergiwan. (2022). Solidaritas Sosial Komunitas Pengemudi Ojek Online. IJOP: International Journal of Panengen , 1(1), 42–51.
Stewart, A., & Stanford, J. (2017). Regulating work in the gig economy: What are the options? Economic and Labour Relations Review, 28(3), 420–437. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304617722461
Stopforth, G. (2023). Decent work for on-demand workers in the modern-day GIG economy. In University of the free state bloemfontein (Issue March).
Stuart, M., Bessa, I., Joyce, S., Neumann, D., Trappmann, V., & Umney, C. (2022). A global analysis of worker protest in digital labour platforms. In A global analysis of worker protest in digital labour platforms. https://doi.org/10.54394/ctng4947
Švagan, B. (2023). Understanding the paradox of high job quality evaluations among platform workers. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02477-1
Theodora, O. A. (2021). Lowongan Bertambah , Sebagian Kelompok Masih Sulit Akses Pekerjaan. 1–13.
Tronsor, W. (2018). Unions for Workers in the Gig Economy: Time for a New Labor Movement. Labor Law Journal, 69(4), 181.
Vallas, S., & Schor, J. B. (2020). What do platforms do? Understanding the gig economy. Annual Review of Sociology, 46, 273–294. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054857
Wang, B., Shao, Y., & Miao, M. (2022). a Social Welfare Estimation of Ride-Sharing in China: Evidence From Transaction Data Analysis of a Large Online Platform. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 28(2), 419–441. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2022.16284
Wood, A. J., Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, V., & Hjorth, I. (2019). Good Gig, Bad Gig: Autonomy and Algorithmic Control in the Global Gig Economy. Work, Employment and Society, 33(1), 56–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018785616
Xu, Y., & Liu, D. (2021). Decent work for the digital platform workers. A preliminary survey in Beijing. Digital Law Journal, 2(1), 48–63. https://doi.org/10.38044/2686-9136-2021-2-1-48-63
Yassin, J., & Rani, U. (2022). Ride-hailing versus traditional taxi services?: the experiences of taxi drivers in Lebanon (Vol. 85, Issue 85). https://labordoc.ilo.org/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma995214293502676&context=L&vid=41ILO_INST:41ILO_V2&lang=en&search_scope=ALL_ILO&adaptor=Local Search Engine&tab=ALL_ILO&query=any,contains,995214293502676&offset=0
Yuniastuti, E., Laksmono, B. S., & Sardjono, W. (2019). Initiating social protection scheme in the sharing economy industry (case of Indonesia go-jek rider). International Journal of Management, 10(5), 128–144. https://doi.org/10.34218/IJM.10.5.2019.012

Authors

Henriko Tobing
henrikotobing.ht@gmail.com (Primary Contact)
Author Biography

Henriko Tobing, Ministry of Manpower – Republic of Indonesia

Henriko Tobing was born in Jakarta on August 11, 1973. Currently, he works for the Ministry of Manpower of the Republic of Indonesia. During his tenure, he has held several positions ranging from staff to section head; he then became a researcher and currently changed position as a policy analyst. He also concurrently serves as Head of the Division of Policy Development for Labor Inspection, OSH, Industrial Relations, and Social Security.

His interest in economics, particularly public economics, led him to earn a master's degree in economics, specializing in planning and public policy, from the University of Indonesia, due to its relation to where his works, his interest in public economics is increasingly concentrated in labour.

As a former researcher and currently a policy analyst, he has conducted several studies on employment; the results are reported in books, journals, and policy articles where several of his books and journals have been published. He also has experience being involved in international activities in the form of research and preparing substance on global issues related to employment for the ministry.

Based on his work in both structural and functional positions, he has enough experience, especially when talking about Indonesian employment.

Tobing, H. (2024) “The Gig Economy Dilemma: Exploring Alternatives to Create Decent Work for Online Motorcycle Taxi Drivers in Indonesia”, Jurnal Ketenagakerjaan, 19(2), pp. 168–183. doi: 10.47198/jnaker.v19i2.340.

Article Details

Most read articles by the same author(s)