Platform & Informal Economy in the Pandemic Era: Solidarity or Predatory

ElisaSutanudjaja

This essay reflects how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the informal economy sector in Indonesia. By dissecting the character of the informal sector that allows this sector to survive collectively and adapt amid adversity through 3 examples of case studies. This essay will also reflect on the actions taken by the rife service platforms in Indonesia and the practices behind them that allow for predatory rather than solidarity regarding immense capital influence over the typical small to medium scale informaleconomy.

InthecontextofIndonesia,theInformalEconomyisoftendefinedas theantithesisoftheformaleconomy.Thisunderstandingmeansthat the informal economy sector is seen as a sector that does not pay taxes and has no guarantees for its workers. Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) defines the informal sector as a person's main job status, which includes self-employment, enterprises assisted by non-permanent workers, permanent workers, laborers/employees, freelanceworkersinagriculture,anddailyworkersinnon-agricultural andfamilyworkers.However,thisdefinitiondoesnotexplicitlycover whattheinformalsectoris.Untilnow,theinformalsectorwasnotthe main focus of government policy or attention, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government does not even have a general definition of the informal sector and only defines business scale (small,medium,andlargeenterprises).

Despite the government's lack of understanding of the informal economysector'scharacter,consistenteffortsaremadetotransform the informal sector into formal enterprises, especially in administrationandactivitylocations.Thiseffortismainlymotivatedin ordertoeasethegovernment'sworkload.Forexample,itiseasierfor the government to transfer cash or support, administer the exact number of sellers to be relocated, and benefit the government from moreaccessibletaxcollection.

With this opportunity, we intended to look at the informal economy initsgeographicalsetting,socialnetwork,andrelationshipproduced by it or from it. Understanding these characteristics becomes very important,consideringthereisnosolidandthoroughdefinitionofthe informalsector.

ResearchCenterforEconomicsandPublicPolicyStudies(PSEKP)

UGM explainedthattheinformalsectorhasanumberofsmall-scalebusiness units, with individual or family ownership, utilizing simple technology and soft skills. Another thing is that it is difficult to access local financialinstitutions,lowlaborproductivityandrelativelylowerwage than the formal sector. Another critical characteristic that Simone (2015) raised is that informal economy actors interact with various social classes and empower many people, acting with autonomy and an independent structure. This autonomy is carried out by utilizing socialnetworkstobuildrelationshipstofulfillneeds,supplymaterials, work and distribute shifts, packers, delivery workers and so on. These autonomous characteristics allow the great diversity of how people dealinthecitybyusingtheirtactics,strategies,organizing,protesting, occupying,andsolidaritymovement.

Based on these characteristics, where the informal sector unites the needs and abilities of various social classes and is very close to social networkstobuildsupplyanddemandrelations,wefeelthatthemore appropriatetermis"peopleeconomy"overtheinformaleconomy.Our perspective is similar to what happened in Latin America, which has theterm"populareconomy"comparedtotheinformaleconomy.Both thesenamingshowsbetteranddeeperunderstandingratherthanjust calling this "informal economy" based on the absence of formal registrationbythegovernment.

Based on the understanding above, we bring up 3 example cases as interestingcopingmechanismsandsolidaritypracticesintheinformal sectorduringthepandemicinIndonesia.Allcasesaredistinctyetshow the different levels of involvement between the informal worker and other significant actors involved and influence the informal sector workers' ability to carry out collective adaptation efforts during the COVID-19pandemic.