THE Human Resources Ministry will ensure a government policy requiring all self-employed individuals, including gig workers, to contribute to the Self-Employed Social Security Scheme (SESSS), can be implemented in the near future.

Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar said to ensure insurance coverage for all sectors, including the gig economy, the Social Security Organisation (Socso) faces various challenges, among them the lack of specific policy or legislation to safeguard the welfare of gig workers.

He said gig workers are not protected under the Employment Act 1955, Sabah Labour Ordinance (Chapter 67) and Sarawak Labour Ordinance (Chapter 76), and are not entitled to minimum wage in addition to their inconsistent and temporary income.

Sivakumar said this in reply to a supplementary question by Azli Yusof (Shah Alam-PH) at question time in the Dewan Rakyat today, who wanted to know the extent of the government’s commitment to establish a clear policy or act to defend the welfare of gig workers.

To Azli’s original question, Sivakumar said based on Socso’s statistics from January to December 2022, 374,906 self-employed workers in the country have SESSS protection.

“Regarding savings for old age, the Human Resources Ministry is studying the protection of gig workers under a specific legislation to protect the welfare of gig workers, including those who are self-employed,” he said.

He said of that number, 315,107 are active p-hailing riders and 59,799 are e-hailing drivers.

“Various initiatives and programmes have been implemented as encouragement for informal workers, including gig economy workers, to register and contribute to Socso. Among those initiatives are Socso’s appointment of a corporate agent to encourage workers in the sector to contribute to SESSS,” he said. – Bernama, February 27, 2023.