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Lam Le is a fellow at Tech Policy Press.
One year after Singapore’s Platform Workers Act came into effect in January 2025, Carmen Ortega, a ride-hailing driver, and Hayyan, a delivery worker, are both clocking more hours every week to make up for lower take-home pay.
A portion of their monthly earnings now goes into their social security accounts. “I feel like it’s saving for myself as I grow old and retire, if I want to buy a house, for retirement,” Ortega, who is 40 and drives for various platforms, told Tech Policy Press.
Hayyan, who works mainly for Grab, Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing and delivery platform, sees it differently. “The delivery rider wants immediate cash. That is kind of the whole point of doing this kind of gig work in general,” the 25-year-old, who asked to be called by his nickname to speak freely, told Tech Policy Press. “It’s horrible.”
In 2024, Singapore became the first country in Southeast Asia to pass legislation regulating gig work. In September 2025, Malaysia followed suit, approving the Gig Workers Act, which came into effect on March 31.
This approach differs from the EU’s Directive, where a platform is presumed to be an employer if indicators of control and direction are present. By contrast. Singapore and Malaysia’s laws “actually preserve the traditional employment classification, meaning the gig workers are considered an independent contractor,” Yosuke Uchiyama, a researcher at the Transportation Institute, Chulalongkorn...
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