Digital labor platforms have emerged as a promising avenue for creating earning opportunities, particularly in low and middle-income nations with substantial informal workforce segments. In India, the digital gig economy has experienced remarkable growth, with an estimated 6.8 million digital gig workers in 2019-20 and projections suggesting this number could reach 23.5 million by 2029-30. This expansion is driven by widespread smartphone adoption, extensive internet penetration, and the platforms’ ability to provide efficient and predictable service provision.
In this study, we analysed the gig workers engaged by one of the platforms in India involving location-based gig work (referred to as (platform) to preserve anonymity) to conduct a comprehensive descriptive study that characterizes the economic lives of digital gig workers who are two-wheeler (primarily motorcycle and scooters) drivers. Our key research themes include demographics, drivers’ reasons for joining and barriers to entry, work patterns, total earnings, financial security and inclusion, and platform experiences, including gender-specific challenges. We leverage administrative data to draw a more representative sample for a phone survey, which allows us to mitigate biases typically found in studies of this nature. We focus on two types of drivers, as per our independent definition:1
The sampling strategy allows us to conduct gendered comparisons and deliberately oversamples female drivers to better understand their experiences. By surveying both current and past drivers, we explore the ongoing experiences of platform workers and document the career trajectories of those who have left platform work.
In describing the results, we emphasize how the drivers compare to other urban populations when recent data for this demographic is available. Otherwise, we use the general population as a benchmark, while recognizing that an average Indian may not be comparable to an average digital gig worker, which is primarily an urban phenomenon. Additionally, we explore how our findings align with or differ from narratives presented in other reports and studies, such as those reviewed in Brailovskaya 2023. Any deviations from the literature may stem from varying contextual factors or from earlier studies’ lack of representativeness.
A five-year initiative to study the digital economy and its welfare implications on gig workers.