Coverage for platform workers and the self-employed in case of unemployment in Switzerland: Access to protection and ways of improvement

Abstract

Whether they are self-employed, atypical employees, or self-employed using an umbrella company, there is still almost no social protection against unemployment or partial loss of activity in Switzerland for platform workers. The same can be said for the self-employed in general. This contribution shows that platform workers, irrespective of their exact legal status, and the self-employed in general, risk sanctions for taking on unsuitable work, for being insufficiently available for decent work or unable to prove a loss of income. However hard they try, they cannot even contribute to a voluntary unemployment insurance scheme. We show that the Swiss social protection scheme, a product of years of federal direct democracy, is hardly able to adapt to the fast-moving platform work environment, thus increasing the risks of precariousness and the burden on the cantons’ social assistance for the next generation.