Legislating for platform workers: How is Singapore tackling the gig economy dilemma?
In recent months, the living and working conditions of platform workers, exemplified by delivery riders, have become a focal point of social concern, highlighted by incidents such as the sudden death of high-volume “Order Kings” in Hangzhou and riders being forced to kneel before security guards. Over the past decade, the platform economy has expanded rapidly across the globe, becoming an industry intricately linked to daily urban life in China. However, this growth has been accompanied by a predicament for platform workers: low wages, meager benefits, and a lack of labour protections. Against this backdrop, Singapore’s Platform Workers Bill is regarded as a landmark development, offering valuable insights for China and other nations seeking to resolve labour protection issues within the platform economy.
I. It Began with a Short Film
At the end of August 2021, during the annual National Day Rally, then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong screened this three-minute short film titled Kejar, which means “chase” in Malay.
The film documents a day in the life of a young rider “chasing” the algorithm, rushing from one order to the next. Along the way, he faces setbacks: food falls on the ground after he is startled by a barking dog, his delivery box lacks sufficient capacity, and he stops to help a colleague repair a motorbike. Ultimately, he falls one order short of his 30-order daily target, missing out on a SGD 90 (approximately RMB 488) bonus.
Using this short film as an example, Lee Hsien Loong expressed his concern for low-income populations, represented by platform workers. “They serve platforms like Foodpanda, GrabFood, and Deliveroo. We see them delivering food to us day and night, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work is grueling, and most of them do not earn much.”
This occurred while the Delta variant of COVID-19 was raging. Due to the pandemic, the Singaporean economy suffered its steepest decline since independence in 1965 in 2020, with unemployment hitting a ten-year high.
The National Day Rally is part of Singapore’s annual National Day celebrations. Since the first anniversary of independence, the Prime Minister has delivered a speech every year to discuss national challenges, the economic climate, and future goals—akin to the State of the Union address in the United States. The 2020 rally was cancelled due to the pandemic. A year later, amidst a series of challenges, Lee Hsien Loong highlighted low-income workers and a set of measures to raise their earnings—noting that beyond emergency pandemic aid, they required systemic support to achieve sustainable income growth.
He specifically pointed out that riders are effectively employees, but because they lack employment contracts with the platforms, they are deprived of basic work protections enjoyed by most workers, such as work injury compensation, the right to form unions, and employer contributions to the Central Provident Fund (CPF). Meanwhile, an increasing number of people in Singapore were entering this line of work. “The Ministry of Manpower is studying this and will conduct consultations. We must resolve these issues to provide a more secure future for these workers.”
Before the pandemic, the growth of the food delivery industry in Singapore was relatively slow due to the convenience of eating out and high labour costs. However, data from Statista shows that in 2020, total revenue for food delivery and grocery fast-delivery services in Singapore grew by 68.8% and 40.9% respectively, reaching record highs.
A consumer survey published by Deliveroo in October 2022 revealed that the pandemic led Singaporeans to “embrace” delivery services. 60% of Singaporeans stated they now use delivery services more frequently than before the pandemic, while 70% said they use them at least once a week.
Singapore has over a dozen ride-hailing and delivery platforms with a total workforce of over 70,000, which peaked at over 80,000 in 2022 before dipping slightly, accounting for roughly 3% of the local workforce. More than half of these platform workers are over 50 and lack higher education. In 2021, their median monthly income was SGD 1,500 (approx. RMB 8,128), compared to the overall Singaporean median monthly income of approximately SGD 5,200 (approx. RMB 28,178).
In 2022, a study by the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Policy Studies involving nearly 1,000 platform workers found that 94% reported significant financial stress, and 84% worried they could not save enough for retirement.
Between 2021 and 2022, five delivery and courier platform workers died in traffic accidents. Among 12 platform workers interviewed by CNA in July 2022, only one stated they had never had an accident or a near-miss. While major platforms including GrabFood, Foodpanda, and Deliveroo provide insurance for riders, they do not offer other basic benefits.
The director of *Kejar*, Mohammad Ruzhael bin Marwazi, was only 20 years old in 2021 and a second-year film production student at ITE College Central. Marwazi registered as a rider on his 18th birthday to help support his family, just as his brother had. Similarly, most of the friends who acted in and produced the film had experience as delivery riders.
In an interview with *The Straits Times* after winning an award, Marwazi said that the pandemic changed how people view delivery riders, seeing them as “heroes serving the community,” “but many are unaware of the hardships they experience. I hoped to showcase these difficulties to become a force for change.”
At the 2021 National Day Rally, Lee Hsien Loong suggested that raising the income of low-wage workers requires effort from all parties, including workers improving their own skills, support from the government and employers, and contributions from consumers. “As consumers, we too must play our part and pay a little more for the things we enjoy.”
II. Towards a More Secure Future
Under current Singaporean law, 8% to 10.5% of a platform worker’s income is mandatorily contributed to their MediSave account, while platforms are not required to make any contributions toward their pension, healthcare, or housing funds.
Regarding work injuries, platform workers spend a significant amount of time on the road, making them more prone to accidents, yet they lack the financial safety nets needed to sustain their livelihoods following an injury.
Furthermore, because platform workers are not classified as employees, they lack the right to form unions, meaning there are no effective mechanisms for collective bargaining or dispute resolution.
The committee subsequently launched a public consultation and engaged in dialogue with consumers, platform workers, and platform companies. In August 2022, acting on the committee’s recommendations, a tripartite consultative workgroup for platform workers was established, consisting of the government, the Singapore National Employers Federation, platform companies, and union representatives.
“Tripartism” is a unique labour-management mechanism developed under the long-term governance of Singapore’s People’s Action Party. Before the early 1960s, Singapore faced political instability, high unemployment, frequent strikes, and social unrest, with labour relations being highly adversarial. In 1972, following independence, Singapore’s first tripartite body—the National Wages Council (NWC)—was established to bring government, employers, and workers together to set wage guidelines, ensuring orderly wage growth and preventing pay disputes that could hinder the industrialisation process.
Once the tripartite consultative workgroup for platform workers was formed, it began coordinating with all stakeholders. The following year, it proposed a series of legislative recommendations, including the authorisation process for platform worker representative bodies, the scope of negotiations, the formulation of formal agreements, and methods for resolving disagreements. The Ministry of Manpower accepted these recommendations earlier this year.
III. The Passing of the Platform Workers Act
The Act notes that platforms exercise a certain level of management over workers, and that the relationship between a platform and its workers differs from traditional employment or freelancing. Consequently, a new category of “platform worker” has been introduced into the existing framework.
The Act requires platform workers born on or after 1 January 1995 to make Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions. Those born before this date may choose to join on a voluntary basis, as they may already have their own housing and retirement plans. The contribution shares for both platform workers and employers will increase gradually until they reach the same proportions as those for existing employees and employers. Additionally, the government will establish a CPF transition support scheme to partially offset the reduction in take-home pay caused by these contributions.
At the same time, platforms must purchase work injury compensation insurance for workers to the same standard as that provided for employees, and both parties are obligated to prevent accidents from occurring. Workers injured during their work can claim compensation, including reimbursement for medical expenses, compensation for loss of income during sick leave, and lump-sum payments in the event of permanent disability or death. If a rider delivers for multiple platforms simultaneously, those platforms must share the cost of compensation.
To ensure the safety and health of platform workers, the Ministry of Manpower and the Workplace Safety and Health Council are collaborating with the platform industry to develop a set of basic safety operating standards, with public consultations opening in September.
The Act also requires the establishment of platform work associations to represent platform workers in negotiations with platforms. The Ministry of Manpower will appoint personnel to regulate and oversee the activities of these associations.
The Act states that the Platform Workers Act is intended to strengthen the social contract, in which everyone—platform operators, platform workers, and consumers—plays a role in supporting the protection of platform workers.
Singapore’s new Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong, wrote on Facebook that day: “This success stems from our strong tripartite mechanism. Together, we have developed a solution that benefits both workers and businesses, ensuring fair treatment while preserving the flexibility that platform work offers. This is an important step in our ongoing efforts to strengthen the social contract.”
The value of the Singapore Platform Workers Act lies in its attempt to address the challenges of labour protection in the platform economy at a granular and regulatory level. Examples include: how to define the labour relationship between platforms and workers, how to prevent platforms from shifting costs onto workers, how to determine the scope of work injury compensation, and how to strengthen the voice of platform workers regarding algorithmic transparency.
However, Singapore’s Platform Workers Act cannot be viewed as a ready-made answer for China facing similar challenges. For instance, Seah Kian Peng, Senior Minister of State for Manpower, believes that by ensuring consumers and workers have the right to switch platforms, market competition between platforms will act as a check against platforms shifting costs onto workers. However, as delivery platforms in China tend towards monopoly, such a balancing mechanism may not be effective. Furthermore, platform workers in China are highly mobile; when suffering from serious illness, most choose to return to their place of household registration for treatment, making them reluctant to pay into medical insurance in large cities.
If we wish to advance labour protections for platform workers worldwide on a constructive level, many similar details need to be compared and considered within the specific social conditions of China and other nations. Nevertheless, as one of the first countries to establish dedicated legal protections for platform workers, Singapore’s Platform Workers Act provides us with extremely valuable reference and inspiration.
Editor: Yu Yang