Latin America Confronts the Challenge of Digital Platforms
HAVANA TIMES – Work using digital platforms is growing quickly in Latin America and the Caribbean. This new modality is transforming the labor market and opening new opportunities, but it also poses new challenges. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Region Office of the International Labor Organization.
As “a global phenomenon with local implications, it’s essential that we better understand its impact on Latin America and the Caribbean, in order to assure that public policies respond to the realities of those who work in this field,” stated Ana Virginia Moreira Gomes, regional director of the ILO.
The “Survey of Workers on Web-based Digital Platforms: new data for the Latin American and Caribbean Region” offers a detailed analysis of the socio-demographics, working conditions, incomes, and motivations of those who work in this growing sector of the digital economy.
The study focused exclusively on the workers whose jobs rely on web-based digital platforms, based on a survey of 1,153 people in 21 countries of the region. The jobs they did ranged from programming and graphic design to administrative micro-tasks and training of artificial intelligence systems. Unlike the more local platforms for transportation or delivery, these jobs connect workers and contractors all over the world through the internet.
Among its principal findings, the report reveals that 93% of those surveyed live in urban areas, highlighting the eminently urban character of this kind of work. The workforce is young and well trained, with a median age of 33. Over half have had some university-level studies. Eight percent of those surveyed identified themselves as migrants, nearly half of them from Venezuela.
Over half, (53%) work for contractors outside their country and 90% of those who know the site of their contractors indicated that they’re based outside the region, principally in the US and Canada.
The median hourly pay was US $2.57 dollars although the average was US $5.48 dollars, which reflects a large disparity in incomes. Of all those surveyed, 52% indicated that the web-based work wasn’t their main source of income.
The report also stressed that while many people value the flexibility of this kind of work, and the opportunity it offers to complement their income, persistent challenges remain in terms of social protection. Nearly 40% of the workers surveyed are excluded from health benefits and social security.
When asked about the hours they work in an average week, 29% indicated that they work a traditional 5-day week. However, another 16% stated that they work six days a week, and 18% indicated that they work every day of the week.
The flexible nature of this work can mean long or nocturnal work schedules; on average, they work at least 10 hours a day; such extensive or nocturnal workday can pose a risk to health and work safety. Nonetheless, between 30 and 40% of the workers consider their health “very good,” while 45-55% ranked it as “good”.
The ILO considers the study very relevant in the context of the discussion regarding web-based work that is planned for the upcoming International Work Conference, scheduled for June 2025 in the Swiss city of Geneva. At this conference, the ILO’s tripartite constituents – governments, employers and workers – will address the regulatory challenges of this mode of work.
The ILO recognizes that the growth of the web-based economy has opened new markets and created jobs with high flexibility and low barriers to entry.
However, it stresses that it also poses challenges to ensure that workers have access to decent work, given that this new mode of labor comes with the risk of operating outside of labor regulations and social protection.
First published in Spanish by IPS and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.