Page 66 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.81, # 2, 2024, pp. 60-83

It concluded that a large quantity of jobless persons find work in the informal sector
resulting from employment opportunities created by self-employed workers. On the
other hand, a study by (Fourie, 2023) concluded that the gig economy is merely an
exploitative extension of the informal economy and that the gig economy's advocacy
for self-care and the concept of the independent contractor is merely a way for
companies to absolve themselves of any responsibility toward their employees.
Another study by Angelique, (Wiesböck, Radlherr, & Vo, 2023) focused on the effects
of informal freelance work, highlighting the situation of domestic cleaners working in
the digital gig economy in Vienna, who primarily work through online platforms in
the informal sector. The study's findings revealed that working in this field informally
increases the power gap between workers and employers, leading to wage
deterioration, pressure, threats, and other risks borne by domestic service providers.

In Algeria, there is not a single study listed on the ASJP platform, which includes 878
journals across all disciplines, that focuses on freelance work in Algeria, except for one
study by (Lassassi & Hammouda, n.d), which addressed the subject of self-employment.
The study found that self-employment has increased in recent years in Algeria and is
viewed as an alternative to formal employment. This is not only the case for youth who
are unable to get employment in the official sector but also for retirees after the end of
their active work life. Thus, the freelance labor market is entirely unknown to both
researchers and policymakers, as there are no official statistics available in Algeria
regarding the number of freelancers or even their trends concerning the activities they
engage in and offer through Algerian, Arab, and international digital platforms.
Therefore, this study is pioneering in shedding light on freelance work in Algeria and the
key activities and skills practiced and demanded in this field.

Given this situation, there is an urgent need to regulate the new job market. Several
countries are leading initiatives to make the incorporation of informal activities
entering the formalized economy a political priority. Success stories in this area show
that formalizing the informal economy requires comprehensive legal frameworks
designed to assist the transfer of laborers and business entities from the informal to
the formal economy (International Labour Organization, n.d.b). In this context, a
study by (Arreola, Dávila, Felio, & Ottmann, 2017) highlighted the legal framework
for self-employed entrepreneurs in France and its ability to turn self-employed
entrepreneurs into true entrepreneurs. The study concluded that there is a conflict
between the self-employed entrepreneur status (Auto Entrepreneur Status) and the
promotion of entrepreneurship, recommending the revision of policies and additional
incentives provided by the French government to support self-employed
entrepreneurs.

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