Online Platforms and New Forms of Employment: Asian and African Countries

Abstract

The spread of digital technologies, rapid proliferation of digital economy is accompanied by development of online platforms. Gig economy is the activity on the labour market, in which demand and supply are interconnected through online platforms. Special online platforms act as intermediaries between customers and services providers. There are three forms of employment via platforms. 1) freelancing: tasks are given to individual contractors who send accomplished tasks by internet. 2) crowdsourcing: online platforms divide large tasks into micro-jobs that are distributed among numerous contractors, “a crowd”. 3) location-based gig jobs are distributed by online platforms, such as Uber, there is a direct contact between customers and contractors. The article reviews typical features of each type of employment, their positive and negative sides. The author analyzes development of three types of gig jobs in Asian countries, with India in the focus, incomes of contractors, gender and age aspects of these types of employment. Among freelancers in India, Pakistan, “zoomers” and millennials predominate. Freelancers appreciate remote work, “work from anywhere”, an opportunity to combine work and taking care of children, relative autonomy. Platform employment allows to solve unemployment problems. But work on platforms has some negative features: lack of social security, absence of sick leaves and paid vacations, unpredictable schedules of work and unstable incomes. On the one side, work on platforms is enabled by digital technologies, but on the other side, it may seem as a return to informal sector, which has significant positions in Asian and African countries.