{"id":75500,"date":"2021-01-05T20:09:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T14:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=75500"},"modified":"2021-01-06T18:05:51","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06T12:35:51","slug":"solving-the-issue-of-urban-employment-through-platform-gig-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/solving-the-issue-of-urban-employment-through-platform-gig-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Solving the issue of Urban employment through platform\/gig economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Synopsis<\/span><\/b>\u2013\u00a0<\/span><\/b>With<\/span>\u00a0no urban equivalent to the NREGA as yet, there must be a focus on supporting new forms of urban employment in the form of the gig economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Background-<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Debate around GDP contraction and V-Shaped recovery has ignored the prevalence of unemployment in India.<\/span><\/p>\n

Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy points to a gradual slowdown in employment recovery which is evident from the fact that\u00a0<\/span>national unemployment rate<\/span><\/b>\u00a0has been increased from 6.51% to 9.06%.<\/span><\/p>\n

How does the rural economy provide better employment compared to urban?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the\u00a0<\/span>labour<\/span>\u00a0population moving back to rural India, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) provided employment support, which witnessed a 243% increase in person workdays.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whereas many Indian cities, during this pandemic, shut down the employment avenues for millions of workers, who either migrated to rural areas or took up new forms of platform work. Gig economy became their only source of employment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the Gig Economy?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A\u00a0labour\u00a0market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Performance of gig\/platform works\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Fairwork<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Foundation\u00a0<\/span><\/b>published its report related to the gig economy and\u00a0<\/span>its annual<\/span>\u00a0review of platform\u00a0<\/span>labor<\/span>\u00a0gains prominence. It used the following metrics to evaluate the wellbeing of gig workers.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Fair Pay<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Fair Conditions<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Fair Contracts<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Fair Management<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Fair Representation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Findings<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    In this report p<\/span>latform giants, namely, Uber, Ola,\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Swiggy<\/span><\/b>\u00a0and Zomato are at the bottom<\/span><\/b>\u00a0of the ranking. Only Urban Company and Flipkart scored fairly.<\/span><\/p>\n

    How to increase urban employment?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    As in Urban India, t<\/span>here is no scheme like NREGA<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0 Government must focus on evaluating, regulating and supporting platform\/gig employment.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Issue of evaluation<\/span><\/b>\u2013<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n