Reconsidering Social Protection for Motorcycle Taxi Drivers: Understanding Precarity in Formalized Informality

Kritsada Theerakosonphong

Authors

Kritsada Theerakosonphong Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University

Keywords:

Social protection, Motorcycle taxi drivers, Formalized informality, Precarity, Ride-hailing applications (apps)

Abstract

This article's central argument is that as a consequence of ride-hailing applications (apps), formalized informality has emerged among motorcycle taxi drivers (MTDs). The aim is to provide preliminary recommendations for reconsidering social protection (SP) for MTDs. Platformization and practices of precarising formality through formal-informal interaction are reviewed, as well as employment status and other different forms of employment. MTDs are unevenly matched in power relations dominated by the government and non-government officials, insecurity and uncertainty related to job precarity results. Several critical SP issues are discussed including: the distinction between formality and informality and the related inability to divide the two economies, insofar as formality merges with informality through what may be termed formalized informality; in addition, the nature of society dependent on precariousness, through new groups of structural vulnerability in the informal economy due to novel digital platform production; and finally, employment forms; including standard and non-standard work. These pose barriers to formalization approaches, leading to the impossibility of designing a single standard SP system for the future of such work.

References

Arnold, D., and Bongiovi, J. R. .2013. “Precarious, informalizing, and flexible work: Transforming concepts and understandings”. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(3): 289-308.

Benanav, A. 2019. “The origins of informality: the ILO at the limit of the concept of unemployment.” Journal of Global History 14(1): 107-125.

Bernales‐Baksai, P., & Solar‐Hormazábal, O. 2018. “Advancing health coverage of informal workers in three Latin American countries.” Social Policy & Administration 52(6): 1201-1216. Doi:10.1111/spol.12435

Berg, J. 2022. “Contemporary digital home work: Old challenges, different solutions?”. Home-based work and home-based workers (1800-2021). edit by M. Nilsson, I. Mazumdar, & S. Neunsinger. 288-307. Leiden: Brill.

Chen, M. A. 2016. “The Informal Economy: Recent Trends, Future Directions.” NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy. 26(2): 155-172.

Chen, M. A. & Carre, F. 2020. The Informal Economy Revisited: Examining the Past,Envisioning the Future. Introduction. In M. A. Chen & F. Carre (eds.).1-27: Oxon: Routledge.

Choonara, J. 2020. The Precarious Concept of Precarity. Review of Radical Political Economics. 52(3): 427-446.

Collier, R. B., Dubal, V. B., & Carter, C. 2017. Labor platforms and gig work: the failure to regulate. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3udDIgs

Deacon, B.2013. Global social policy in the making: The foundations of the social protection Floors. Chicago: Policy Press.

Deacon, B. 2016. “Assessing the SDGs from the point of view of global social governance.”.Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy. 32(2): 116-130.

Department of Land Transport.2021. Statistics on Motorcycle Taxi Terminals and Drivers in Bangkok. December 31.https://bit.ly/2SXqUOE (in Thai)

Durán, G., & Narbona, K. .2021. “Precarising Formality: Understanding Current Labour Developments in Chile.” Global Labour Journal.12(3).

Fathurrahman, I. 2020. “Preserving the Precariat in the Name of the Innovation Economy. Case Study: Online Motorcycle Taxis in Indonesia.” Master Thesis in Development Studies, Lund University. https://bit.ly/3wqfIrl

Forde, C, et al. 2017. “The social protection of workers in the platform economy.” European Parliament Think Tank. https://bit.ly/3oRE5w8

Frey, B. 2020. “Platform Labor and In/Formality: Organization among Motorcycle Taxi Drivers in Bandung, Indonesia.” Anthropology of Work Review. 41(1): 36-49.

Harrod, J. 1987. Power, Production, and the Unprotected Worker. New York: Columbia University Press.

Harrod, J. 2014. “Patterns of Power Relations: Sabotage, Organisation, Conformity and Adjustment.” Global Labour Journal. 5(2): 134-152.

Hart, K. 1973. “Informal income opportunities and urban employment in Ghana.” The journal of modern African studies.11(1): 61-89.

Hauben, H. Lenaerts, K. & Wayaert, W. 2020. The Platform Economy and Precarious Work. https://bit.ly/3hQg5YG

Hewison, K., & Kalleberg, A. L. 2013. Precarious work and flexibilization in South and Southeast Asia. American Behavioral Scientist. 57(4): 395-402.

Hewison, K., & Tularak, W. 2013. “Thailand and precarious work: An assessment.” American Behavioral Scientist. 57(4): 444-467.

Hewison, K. 2016. Precarious Work. In S. Edgell, H. Gottfried & E. Granter (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Work and Employment.428-443. London: SAGE.

International Labor Office.1972. Employment, incomes and equality: A strategy for increasing productive employment in Kenya. https://bit.ly/3e2iCMO

International Labor Office.1999. Decent work. https://bit.ly/3ugINo0

International Labor Office.2010. Extending Social Protection to All. https://bit.ly/3viTLe5

International Labor Office.2012. International Standard Classification of Occupation. https://bit.ly/2T6FvH5

International Labor Office.2013. The Informal Economy and Decent Work: A Policy Resource Guide – Supporting Transitions to Formality. https://bit.ly/3oLWbzG

International Labor Office.2014. Transitioning from the Informal to the Formal Economy. https://bit.ly/3fgBtos

International Labor Office.2016. “Non-Standard Employment around the World.” Understanding Challenge, Shaping Prospects. https://bit.ly/3wyZmNL

International Labor Office.2018. “Statistics on work relationships.” 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians. https://bit.ly/3xvVSw7

International Labor Office.2019. 100 Years of Social Protection: The Road to Universal Social Protection Systems and Floors. https://bit.ly/3Fayc3J

International Labor Office.2020. Policy Response of Thailand: COVID-19 and the World of Work. https://bit.ly/3wsyZJ3

International Labor Office & United Nations Country Team in Thailand.2013. Social Protection Assessment Based National Dialogue: Towards a Nationally Defined Social Protection Floor in Thailand. https://bit.ly/3bRWW4G

International Transport Workers Federation (ITF).2020. Informal Passenger Transport Beyond COVID-19: A Trade Union Guide to Worker-Led Formalization. https://bit.ly/3wusAgF

Kalleberg, A. L.2000. Nonstandard employment relations: Part-time, temporary and contract work. Annual review of sociology.26(1): 341-365.

Kalleberg, A. L.2009. Precarious work, insecure workers: Employment relations in transition. American sociological review. 74(1): 1-22.

Kasemsukworarat, N.1990. “The Economic Analysis of Hired-motorcycle Service in Bangkok.” Master Thesis, Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University. https://bit.ly/3dHBdh2

Kring, S. & Leung, V.2021. Renewing the social contract through e-formalization in the world of work. https://bit.ly/3tbee6r

Laruccia, M. M., Cusciano, D. T., & Salles Moraes, L. F.2018. Digital Platforms and informal work: analysis of labor lawsuits in the city of São Paulo related to UBER. In XXII World Congress on" Transformations of Work: challenges for the National Systems of Labour Law and Social Security" at ILO.4th-7th September. https://bit.ly/3vfXObh.

Lee, B. H., Swider, S., & Tilly, C.2020. “Informality in action: A relational look at informal work.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology. 61(2-3): 91-100.

Munro, L. T. 2008. Risks, needs and rights: compatible or contradictory bases for social protection Social protection for the poor and poorest: Concepts, policies and politics.edited by A. Barrientos & D. Hulme. 27 - 46. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

National Economic and Social Development Board. 1988. Report of the national seminar on urban informal sector in Thailand. https://bit.ly/2T41C1q

National Statistical Office. 2020. Informal Workers Survey 2020. https://bit.ly/3vgutxg (in Thai)

Nielsen, W., Marusic, A., Ghossein, T., & Solf, S. 2020. Re-thinking the Approach to Informal Businesses: Typologies, Evidence and Future Exploration.https://bit.ly/3HAvIx4

Nirathron, N. et al. 2021. “Population Ageing in Thailand Informal Workers’ Preparedness for Active Ageing (Volume 3).” Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia and Ageing Business & Care Development Centre. https://bit.ly/37xeqAK

Nirathron, N. 2022. Home work in Thailand: Challenge to formalization Home-based work and home-based workers (1800-2021). edited by In M. Nilsson, I. Mazumdar, & S. Neunsinger.172-194. Leiden: Brill.

Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. 2019. 3 Year Action Plan (2020-2022) of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. https://bit.ly/2QLNOaF (in Thai)

Orleans Reed, S., Ogando, A. C., Tulaphan, P. S., Samantrakul, C. & Towakulpanich, P. 2017. Informal Workers in Bangkok, Thailand: Scan of Four Occupational Sectors. https://bit.ly/3hOH6LX

Oshima, R., Fukuda, A., Fukuda, T., & Satiennam, T. 2007. “Study on regulation of motorcycle taxi service in Bangkok.” Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies. 7: 1828-1843.

Peters, R. 2020. Motorbike-taxi-drivers as Infrastructure in the Indonesian City. Ethnos. 85(3): 471-490.

Phun, V. K., Kato, H., & Chalermpong, S. 2019. Paratransit as a connective mode for mass transit systems in Asian developing cities: Case of Bangkok in the era of ride-hailing services. Transport Policy. 75: 27-35.

Randolph, G. & Galperin, H. 2019. New Opportunities in the Platform Economy: On-ramps to Formalization in the Global South. https://bit.ly/3vk61eg

Rani, U. 2020. “Old and New Forms of Informal Employment.” The Informal Economy Revisited: Examining the Past, Envisioning the Future, edited by M. Chen & F. Carre, 88-91. London: Routledge.

Rodgers, G. 1989. “Precarious Work in Western Europe: The State of the Debate.” Precarious Jobs in Labour Market Regulation: The Growth of Atypical Employment in Western Europe, edited by G. Rodgers & J. Rodgers, 1-16. Geneva: International Institute for Labour Studies.

Rogan, M., Roever, S., Chen, M. A., & Carré, F. 2017. “Informal employment in the global south: Globalization, production relations, and “precarity”.” Precarious Work. edit by A. Kalleberg & S. Vallas. 307-333. Bingley:Emerald Publishing Limited.

Sengers, F. 2016. Transforming transport in Thailand: experimenting for transitions in sustainable urban mobility. Eindhoven: Frans Sengers. https://bit.ly/3jNJDW2

Siegmann, K. A. 2016. Understanding the Globalizing Precariat: From Informal Sector to Precarious Work. Progress in Development Studies. 16(2): 1-13.

Singer, H. W. 1970. Dualism revisited: a new approach to the problems of the dual society in developing countries. The journal of development studies. 7(1): 60-75.

Sopranzetti, C. 2014. Owners of the Map: Mobility and Mobilization among Motorcycle Taxi Drivers in Bangkok. City & Society. 26(1): 120-143.

Sopranzetti, C. 2021. “Shifting Informalities: Motorcycle Taxis, Ride-Hailing Apps, and Urban Mobility in Bangkok.” Geoforum. https://bit.ly/3xCFkCE

Spooner, D. 2019. “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the Formalization of Informal Public Transport: A Trade Union Negotiating Guide.” ITF Global. https://bit.ly/2RGcYYE

Standing, G. 2014. “The Precariat.” Contexts. 13(4): 10-12.

Standing, G. (2018a). Taskers in the Precariat: Confronting an Emerging Dystopia. E. Paus (ed.), Confronting Dystopia: The New Technological Revolution and the Future of Work (pp. 115-133). New York: Cornell University Press.

Standing, G. 2018b. The Precariat: Today’s Transformative Class? https://bit.ly/3wzPLX3

Tambunlertchai, K. et al. 2018. Impact pf Financial Education and Incentives to Saving: A Case of Motorcycle Taxi. Thailand Research Fund. (In Thai)

Teerakowitkajorn, K. & Tularak, W. 2020. “On-demand Food Delivery: Emerging Realities in Thailand’s Platform-Mediated Work.” Bangkok: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Thailand and Just Economy and Labor Institute.

Turner, S. 2020. “Informal motorbike taxi drivers and mobility injustice on Hanoi's streets. Negotiating the curve of a new narrative.” Journal of transport geography 85:102728. https://bit.ly/3jU9BJb

Vallas, S., & Schor, J. B. 2020. “What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the Gig Economy.” Annual Review of Sociology.46: 273-294.

Vanek, J. (2020). Advances in statistics on informal employment. In M. Chen & F. Carre (eds.), The Informal Economy Revisited: Examining the Past, Envisioning the Future (pp. 48-51). London: Routledge.

Wijayanto, I., Sasami, I., Nugroho, R., & Suharto, D. 2018. “Conflict Resolution of Online Transportation vs Conventional Transportation. In 5th International Conference on Social and Political Sciences (IcoSaPS 2018).” Atlantis Press. https://bit.ly/3jSEs9d

World Bank. 2018. The State of Social Safety Nets 2018 https://bit.ly/3fcsfcH

World Bank Thailand. 2021. Towards Social Protection 4.0: An Assessment of Thailand’s Social Protection and Labor Market Systems. https://bit.ly/3EYkgcS

Yadav, S. 2021. “Flexibility and Informalisation of Labour: Intangible Assets, Family and the Informal Economy in India.” Journal of Asian and African Studies. 56(8): 1953-1966.