These are the loopholes in Singapore's growing gig economy

Freelancers for gig companies like Airbnb aren't covered by employment policies.

Loopholes in Singapore's growing gig economy are showing in existing employment regulation policies, Hong Kong law firm Deacons revealed.

According to a study with Corrs Chambers Westgarth and Employment Law Alliance (ELA), freelancers for active gig companies like Uber, Grab, Deliveroo, and Foodpanda cannot be protected by existing employment regulations.

Airbnb too is still active despite the fact that short-term rentals in most properties are illegal.

In the private car hire industry, the existing legislation did not extend to private car hire players such as Uber and Grab.

"From the employment perspective, the Ministry of Manpower is closely monitoring the potential impact of gig economy workers, and is continually trying to find practical solutions to address the issues faced by such workers," WongPartnership LLP said.

For now, new laws have been made for the private car hire industry requiring their drivers to be licensed.

The Ministry of Manpower (MoM), the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) have created guidelines on the Employment of Term contract Employees to provide some measure of protection for contractors.

The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) is also studying the option of allowing owners of private residences to engage in short-term rentals.

The report said, “The advent of platform-based work based on an assumption of contracting may add to existing challenges arising from inadequate enforcement of employment regulations, and the large numbers of workers already found in the ‘informal economy.”