Picture life in the earlier times: Much like the WH Auden poem The Unknown Citizen, filled with fixtures and the measured pace of industrial modernity. The digital wave has upended much of this and has given way to a more dynamic economy and society, opening a floodgate of on-demand services and flexibilised work. In fact, a recent MIT report finds that 63 percent of jobs performed in 2018 did not exist in 1940, the same year that Auden wrote the poem when organised manufacturing jobs were in vogue. Gig and platform jobs are borne of this change and represent the tech-mediated resolution and the plug-in, plug-out nature of interactions in the new economy. Therefore, they challenge the applicability of centuries-old labour laws. From California to Indonesia, the tremors of this paradigm change are being felt.

The ongoing debate about social security has its roots in worker classification which is an overhang of industrial models of production. This has given us dated dichotomies such as skilled/ unskilled, organised/ unorganised, and employer-employee relationships. The latter, specifically, has had a strong impact on the very idea of human labour; “benefits” like family healthcare, dignified retirement, and unemployment insurance are typically tied to formal and organised employment. This connection leads us to conflate the debate on social security with issues of worker classification. Ultimately, such a system requires workers to make certain trade-offs in order to qualify for benefits, often at the cost of their ability to set their work hours, which stands in stark contrast to the exercise of individual agency that has come to define the digital era.

The answer to the chicken-egg question posed is that worker classification came first. It is therefore illogical to suggest that worker classifications, that rely on defining various types of employer-employee relationships, should be articulated alongside worker benefits. Employment-linked social security leaves individuals uncovered in the face of uncertainty, and contributes to the share of informal work (92 percent in India), leading to the tacit creation of “good” and “bad” jobs in the economy. Platform work stands up to this scenario by offering limited access to social security and unbundled access to earning an income. The time is ripe for these laws to catch up with contemporary realities.

India passed the Code on Social Security (CoSS) 2020, which refrains from trying to retrofit archaic categories of employment types on an essentially contemporary phenomenon. It is the first step in addressing the deeper issue of employment-linked social security. Extending forms of social security to those associated in atypical, non-traditional work relations such as platforms - as CoSS 2020 does - is key to addressing the social security gap in India and elsewhere.

Additionally, the Code takes the proactive measure to create two new categories to accommodate these workers, a path untrodden in economies where similar legislation has been considered. The labour market effects of blanket legislative measures elsewhere, like the AB5 in California dealing a blow to the truck driving industry, can be avoided only if the new reality and a renegotiated social contract are acknowledged. The CoSS 2020 somewhat succeeds in doing so and can catapult India to the labour reality of the 21st Century.

Simultaneously, unorganised workers have also been recognised with their separate welfare programmes in CoSS 2020, impacting the entire labour force positively. The recent launch of the e-Shram enumeration portal is a case in point. These are welcome moves, as they do not force a trade-off between flexibility and security, the precise factors that draw the sharp lines between formal and informal employment.

“Flexicurity” (flexibility of labour market in a dynamic economy, while ensuring worker security) is an old concept in this regard, which has been expounded by the World Bank in its recommendation to balance job creation and labour regulation. Through the passage of CoSS 2020, the Government of India achieves some tenets of flexicurity, such as reliable contractual agreements, lifelong learning strategies and a modernised social security system.

While it laudably embraces the ideals of progressive universalism, i.e., expanding coverage while giving priority to the poorest people, CoSS 2020’s proposals only briefly touch upon the principle of portability. Portability of benefits ensures that coverage like healthcare, long-term savings and days off are available regardless of which employer the worker is attached to. Owing to India’s vastness and diversity, it is also important that such benefits are available in a location-agnostic fashion.

The pandemic-induced disruption has given us an opportunity to reflect on the social contracts that govern labour markets. The “old normal” that gave rise to traditional jobs as we know it no longer exists, and CoSS 2020 is a step in the right direction away from it. As we navigate a future where a labour-led recovery can ensure inclusive growth and economic rebound, archaic norms need to be junked to usher in new governance mechanisms, and CoSS 2020 heralds this “new normal”.

- by

Sreelakshmi Ramachandran

(The author is a Research Manager at Ola Mobility Institute and holds a Masters Degree in Development Studies from IIT Madras. She is acutely interested in studying the position that cities of the 21st Century are in - both in terms of sustainability and as avenues of subsistence and livelihood creation.

(Edited by : Pradeep Suresh V)

First Published:Sept 23, 2021 1:36 PM IST