ILO Survey Reveals Gaps in Protections for Platform Workers

Platform-based digital work is expanding across Latin America and the Caribbean, offering new job opportunities but also revealing persistent gaps in social protections, according to a new report from ILO’s Regional Office.

“This report is a fundamental tool to strengthen social dialogue and enrich discussions on how to promote decent work in a rapidly evolving digital environment,” says Ana Virginia Moreira Gomes, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, ILO. ILO’s Survey on workers in web-based digital platforms: New data for the Latin America and the Caribbean region, highlights a growing but often informal labor segment. While it offers flexibility and global access to income-generating opportunities, the study underscores structural challenges around employment conditions and labor rights.

One of the report’s central concerns is the lack of access to social protection. Around 40 percent of workers indicated they are excluded from health services and social security coverage. The absence of employer-employee relationships in many cases complicates the extension of traditional labor protections to this segment.

Findings come from a regional survey involving over 1,000 workers across 21 countries who operate on web-based digital platforms. Unlike location-based gig work such as delivery or transportation, these platforms connect workers and clients remotely across borders. The work includes software development, graphic design, and microtasks such as data annotation and artificial intelligence training.

According to the data, 93 percent of respondents live in urban areas, and the workforce is generally young and educated, with a median age of 33 and more than half holding a university degree. Eight percent of workers identify as migrants, nearly half of whom are Venezuelan nationals. More than half of those surveyed provide services to clients outside their home country, with 90 percent of known clients based in the United States and Canada.

Despite this international reach, median hourly earnings remain low at US$2.57 (MX$44), with an average of US$5.48 (MX$93), reflecting high variability. Additionally, 52 percent of respondents reported that platform work is not their main source of income, highlighting its role as supplementary rather than stable employment.