Gojek fully supports the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers for platforms to co-contribute to workers’ Central Provident Fund (CPF) as well as provide workplace insurance, and have had our own support schemes in place since we started operations here.

According to the article, “Will things pick up for Singapore’s gig workers?” (Nov 27), vice-chairman of the advisory committee Danny Quah argued in a paper that the cost of increased protection for platform workers will not lead to costs being fully passed on to consumers.

The suggestion that platforms could absorb this cost is misleading.

Currently, ride-hail platforms charge varying amounts of commission (from 0 per cent to 20 per cent) plus a platform fee. For example, Gojek takes 10 per cent commission from each total trip cost and a small platform fee. This commission can be considered to be the revenue that a platform makes on a trip. Clearly, this commission cannot support the full 17 per cent CPF contribution required of platforms.

Even if expenses were deducted, the effective rate of platform CPF contribution would be about 7 per cent of a trip cost, which the current commission of 10 per cent can barely cover. The remaining amount would have to cover all the costs of running the platform, including IT, server, insurance, operations and manpower.

Contributing to CPF is an important social good, and we should not shy away from clearly embracing the fact that, as a society and consumers, we need to pay for this critical piece of our support network for a fairer and more equitable society.

Candice Ng

Head of Public Policy, Government Relations

Gojek Singapore