Expert Seminar on new forms of employment and platform work in Eastern Europe

The European Training Foundation (ETF) and the Public Policy Public Policy and Management Institute (PPMI) organised a joint Expert Seminar on the new forms of employment and, in particular, the platform work in the 6 Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The seminar held on 20 January 2020 was part of research activities within the study on “Online /platform work in the Eastern Partnership countries”. The objective of the Seminar moderated by Loes van der Graaf was to present, discuss and exchange experts’ opinions on the country-specific findings with the team of national researchers - Vardan Baghdasaryan – National Expert for Armenia / American University Armenia, Narmina Gasimova – National Expert for Azerbaijan / Center for Economic and Social Development, Jekatyerina Dunajeva – National Expert for Belarus / PPMI, Murtaz Kvirkvaia – National Expert for Georgia / Kutaisi International University, Roman Ivanov – National Expert for Moldova / Vernon David law firm and Oleksandra Betliy – National Expert for Ukraine / Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting.

The experts looked at the position of the 6 countries in the globalised context of digital transformation, migration and economic transition. With this backdrop, the experts discussed the labour market environment and incidence of platform work, as well other non-standard forms of employment in the countries. They looked at types of online work organisation and platform models and clarified the terminology related to new developments. Several questions on the sectors, job profiles

It was noted that various forms of remote and on-location platform exist in the countries. Digitalisation of economies, globalisation and labour outsourcing trends facilitate emergence of new remote and freelance service provision for the EU or US clients. There is also sufficient ground for this phenomenon to grow in the future with a number of international (English or Russian language) and local platforms present in the countries. In addition, new business models of channelling and managing freelance work were identified. Notwithstanding, the research shows a rather high diversity within the region, with Ukraine, Belarus or Armenia with a higher incidence. Furthermore, new forms of employment reflect the overall developments on the market towards skills and work polarisation, with most activities in the segments of low complexity/low skills on-location services and high complexity/ skills web-based services. Young men from capitals and big cities are the most representative workers, both on-location and online.

The research focused also on establishing country-specific profiles, by identifying outstanding features. However, access to information was identified as main obstacle to the research. Many opportunities for job creation and offsetting unemployment were spotted, however there are also many challenges that hinder engagement in new activities. The latter relate often to an unclear legal environment, which may also lead to informality. Moreover, the countries have not yet seen the need for a more systemic approach to platform employment and workers protection, except for Ukraine. There is also a potential for further research to explore how public employment services and education and training systems could enhance support for workers involved new forms of employment.

The Expert Seminar was also a step towards further reflection on the policy pointers for the countries and the region. Vaida Gineikyte presented the regional findings, with some common trends and features. The ultimate goal of this discussion is to create a favourable growth environment, maintain flexibility for innovation, but at the same time protect workers and give them opportunity for decent living and career development. A broader thematic and regional reflection on the new forms of employment and platform work in the EaP countries will be collected together with the research findings and presented in a report in the spring time.