Fairwork Philippines Ratings 2022: Towards Fair Labour Conditions in the PH Platform Economy

The first Fairwork report for the Philippines presents an overview of the labour conditions of platform workers in the country. Digital labour platforms are often hailed for facilitating employment opportunities for the marginalised sectors as it maps onto the country’s large informal economy. Similarly, the sprouting local platforms are valuable tech start-ups that can boost the country’s digital economy. However, this Fairwork report provides essential evidence that platform workers, as in many countries worldwide, continue to face unfair and precarious work conditions and lack the benefits and protections that mark decent work afforded to regular employees in the Philippines.

The report assesses nine of the country’s largest digital labour platforms against five principles of fairness – fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management, and fair representation – giving each a fairness score out of ten. These platforms rated are: Angkas, Borzo, GrabCar, Grab Food/Express, Foodpanda, Joyride, Lalamove, TokTok, and Transportify. GrabCar and Grab Food/Express lead the 2021 league table with just 3 points, while Angkas and Lalamove follow with 2 points.