Plataformas digitales y contribuciones a seguridad social. El caso de Colombia antes y después de la pandemia

Abstract

Digital platforms have become increasingly important in the Colombian economy, and their activity is estimated to represent around 0.2% of GDP. In addition, owing to the great flexibility of their operation, they have created job alternatives for an important segment of the population with few possibilities to find a formal job and/or preferences for flexible jobs. Through a significant number of surveys conducted to workers, users, and allied businesses, we found that the role of platforms during the pandemic has been critical, since they have not only facilitated the distribution of goods and services during quarantines, thus supporting consumers and allied businesses, but also became an alternative source of revenue for thousands of workers who lost their jobs. In fact, the number of platform workers has increased significantly compared to the period prior to the pandemic, especially in delivery platforms. The study also analyzes the draft bills that have been presented to Congress, aiming at increasing social security protection for employees. While we believe that a system that involves generalized pension for low-income workers and progressive contributions for workers earning a minimum wage or more should be the ultimate goal, we provide a concrete transitory measure while this goal is achieved. Our recommendation has the advantage of being less distortive than other proposals and helps correct existing flaws in the current social security system for self-employed workers who receive income between 1 and 2.3 minimum wages. Finally, through a theoretical model of two-sided markets, we find that, under certain conditions, a tax or contribution levied on platforms revenues could end up passing on extra costs to workers and possibly to users.