The protests against railway recruitment process and the Agnipath scheme last year were a stark reminder of the precarious nature of employment in the country. As manufacturing sector jobs continue to fall, an unusual beacon of hope where jobs are rising is gig work. According to the recently released report by NITI Aayog, the gig economy employs approximately 7.7 million workers, with the number expected to rise to 23.5 million by 2029-30, comprising around 4 per cent of overall livelihood in the country. The report notes that gig work holds enormous potential for job creation and can work as a catalyst for occupational mobility.

But it is worth bearing in mind some challenges related to gig work in its current form. For instance, since activities of gig workers fall outside the realm of the traditional employer-employee relationship, labour rights such as employee benefits and traditional forms of security are largely absent. Moreover, despite being considered as a channel of upward mobility, a recent report highlights that the majority of gig workers working in low-skill jobs never save and find few ways of transitioning to better jobs.

These challenges may hinder gig work from becoming the engine of employment growth. We propose two opportunities for strengthening its long-term sustainability.

First, from a regulatory point of view, it is important to clarify who the gig worker is; how they are different from unorganised workers and the self-employed; and to then design solutions for each category of worker separately.

Currently, about 31 per cent of gig work is in low skilled jobs such as cab driving and food delivery, 47 per cent in medium-skilled jobs such as plumbing and beauty services, and 22 per cent in high skilled jobs such as graphic design and tutoring. Another difference is in terms of whether gig work is on-ground (such as food delivery) or remote (such as graphic designing).

These differences have implications for the level of control a gig worker has over their working conditions and work type. In designing regulations for the gig worker, therefore, the government needs to take these differences into account and design sector-specific regulations. In designing policies, the government will need to balance the flexibility afforded by gig work to employers, with protection of worker’s interests. One way to do this is for the government to partner with gig employers to increase access to state services to their workers and encourage employers to provide complementary benefits to those provided by the state. As the gig economy matures and competition increases, small investments in worker well-being can help companies increase retention and service quality.

Services thrust

Second, while low and medium skilled jobs are usually locally done, high-skill jobs can be offered to a global market. Professor Raghuram Rajan recently spoke about the importance of service exports; and about using the opportunity created by the pandemic to provide services at a distance. The government should invest in systematically increasing exports in high-skill gig work such as in the education, financial advisory, legal, medicine or customer management sectors; by making it easier for Indian gig workers to access global markets.

This could be accomplished through new ways of promoting gig capability from India, and by creating pathways for education and certification acquired in India to be recognised globally, such as through FTAs. Britain is sensitive to rising immigration, but also faces a labour shortage.

For gig work to provide a sustainable means of employment, ensuring stronger social security in partnership between the state and private sector and creating a bigger market for high-skill work can be important channels.

Kamini is Lecturer at King’s College London. Ketan is an Assistant Professor of Economics at IIM Raipur, and a Visiting Research Fellow of King’s College

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