TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Ghorpade, Yashodhan
AU  - Jasmin, Alyssa
AU  - Rahman, Amanina Abdur
        TI  - Flexibility and Social Protection in the Gig Economy: Experimental Evidence on Work Location and Scheduling
        PY  - 2026/Apr/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18589
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18589
        AB  - Debates on gig work often treat flexibility and social protection as substitutes. This paper shows that gig workers value different forms of flexibility differently, and that preferences for flexibility and social protection can be complementary. Using discrete-choice experiments with digital freelancers in Malaysia, with standard workers as a benchmark, we examine preferences for work location and scheduling autonomy. Four findings emerge. First, gig workers strongly value spatial autonomy and are willing to pay to work-from-home. Second, preferences for scheduling flexibility are heterogeneous, with many, including freelancers, preferring fixed schedules. Third, willingness to pay for long-term protection in the form of retirement savings increases with both types of autonomy. Fourth, willingness to pay for unemployment insurance is linked only to work-location flexibility. Gig workers possibly associate remote work, but not flexible hours, with greater employment uncertainty, and therefore demand stronger protection against unemployment risks. Flexibility and protection can therefore act as complements rather than substitutes in the gig economy.
        KW  - gig economy
KW  - flexible work arrangements
KW  - work-from-home
KW  - work scheduling
KW  - job amenities
KW  - social insurance
KW  - labor market risk
KW  - discrete choice experiments
        ER  -