This article presents the results of a study aimed at identifying potentially possible and actual employment models on digital platforms (using the Profi.ru platform as an example) based on the degree of legalisation and the ratio of formal and informal practices. Currently, platform employment in Russia is predominantly informal or semi-formal, and the boundaries between formal and informal employment are significantly blurred. The paper proposes a conceptual framework for analysis based on the interpretation of formality and informality as a bipolar characteristic forming a continuum, rather than a strictly dichotomous characteristic. This allows for a more accurate reflection of the diversity of actual employment strategies of digital platform participants. Based on 70 semi-structured interviews with Profi.ru contractors, varying in age, profession, and region of residence, five models of platform employment were identified: pure full-time platform employment on a permanent basis; pure part-time platform employment on a permanent basis; part-time platform employment in combination with standard employment; casual (episodic) pure platform employment; casual (episodic) platform employment in combination with standard employment. For each model, the specifics of legalisation, motivations for participation, and the socio-demographic composition of workers are described. It is shown that the level of legalisation depends on income stability, client requirements, personal attitudes of the contractor, and institutional constraints.

The scientific novelty of this study lies in its systematisation of existing knowledge on platform employment and the testing of a conceptual framework for its analysis in the context of the relationship between formal and informal practices. The obtained results are important for improving social policy and employment regulation. They can be used to develop differentiated support measures, targeted legalisation programmes, and flexible forms of social protection aimed at different categories of platform workers.

digital platform, platform employment, employment strategies, informal employment, self-employment, taxation, risks, prospects for platform employment

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