School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Department of Sociology, Jagannath University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Apr 4;23(1):643. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15471-8.
Today's labor market has changed over time, shifting from mostly full-time, secured, and standard employment relationships to mostly entrepreneurial and precarious working arrangements. Thus, self-employment (SE) has been growing rapidly in recent decades due to globalization, automation, technological advances, and the recent rise of the 'gig' economy, among other factors. Accordingly, more than 60% of workers worldwide are non-standard and precarious. This precarity profoundly impacts workers' health and well-being, undermining the comprehensiveness of social security systems. This study aims to examine the experiences of self-employed (SE'd) workers on how they are protected with available social security systems following illness, injury, and income reduction or loss.
Drawing on in-depth interviews with 24 solo SE'd people in Ontario (January - July 2021), thematic analysis was conducted based on participants' narratives of experiences with available security systems following illness or injury. The dataset was analyzed using NVIVO qualitative software to elicit narratives and themes.
Three major themes emerged through the narrative analysis: (i) policy-practice (mis)matching, (ii) compromise for a decent life, and (iii) equity in work and benefits.
Meagre government-provided formal supports may adversely impact the health and wellbeing of self-employed workers. This study points to ways that statutory social protection programs should be decoupled from benefits provided by employers. Instead, government can introduce a comprehensive program that may compensate or protect low-income individuals irrespective of employment status.
随着时间的推移，当今的劳动力市场发生了变化，从主要以全职、有保障和标准的雇佣关系为主，转变为主要以创业和不稳定的工作安排为主。因此，由于全球化、自动化、技术进步以及最近“零工”经济的兴起等因素，自营职业（SE）在最近几十年迅速增长。相应地，全球超过 60%的工人是非标准和不稳定的。这种不稳定状态深刻地影响了工人的健康和福祉，破坏了社会保障体系的全面性。本研究旨在考察自营职业者（SE'd）的经验，了解他们在患病、受伤以及收入减少或损失后，如何通过现有的社会保障系统得到保护。
本研究采用了对安大略省 24 名个体 SE'd 人员的深入访谈（2021 年 1 月至 7 月），并根据参与者在患病或受伤后利用现有安全系统的经历进行了主题分析。使用 NVIVO 定性软件对数据集进行了分析，以引出叙述和主题。
通过叙述分析得出了三个主要主题：（i）政策与实践的不匹配；（ii）为体面生活做出妥协；（iii）工作与福利的公平性。
政府提供的微薄正式支持可能会对自营职业者的健康和福祉产生不利影响。本研究指出了法定社会保护计划应与雇主提供的福利脱钩的方法。相反，政府可以引入一个全面的计划，无论就业状况如何，都可以为低收入个人提供补偿或保护。
