Designing a Digital Hub for Gig Workers in the Platform Economy

Abstract

The platform economy has given rise to a new labor class known as gig workers, who benefit from work flexibility yet remain vulnerable due to the lack of formal social protection. This literature review aims to examine the gap between the ideality of inclusive social protection and the reality of gig workers who are still excluded from existing welfare schemes. While the policy ideal emphasizes access to health, employment, and income security, the reality shows that gig workers are treated as self-employed with fragmented or absent contributions. This article proposes the Digital Social Protection Hub, a mobile application platform that integrates gig workers’ data across multiple digital platforms with the national social security system. Through a micro-contribution mechanism deducted per transaction, gig workers can access social protection flexibly according to their financial capacity. This
innovation has the potential to expand coverage, promote social inclusion, and foster fairness for workers in the digital age. Therefore, the Digital Social Protection Hub can serve as a breakthrough solution to reconcile flexibility with security, ensuring that gig workers are not only the backbone of the platform economy but also protected citizens.