{"id":53233,"date":"2025-07-03T11:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T05:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=53233"},"modified":"2025-10-14T16:46:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T11:16:59","slug":"gig-workers-in-india-data-gaps-and-the-need-for-inclusive-labour-statistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/gig-workers-in-india-data-gaps-and-the-need-for-inclusive-labour-statistics\/","title":{"rendered":"Gig Workers in India: Data Gaps and the Need for Inclusive Labour Statistics"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Gig Economy Latest News<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s key labour survey, the PLFS, has come under scrutiny for failing to adequately capture the growing gig and platform workforce despite policy-level recognition and welfare initiatives.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Recognising the Growing Gig Workforce<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s workforce has undergone a structural transformation in recent years with the rise of gig and platform-based employment.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From food delivery and ride-hailing to digital freelancing and home services, a new generation of workers is operating outside traditional employment frameworks.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a 2022 NITI Aayog report, <\/span><b>India\u2019s gig workforce is projected to grow to 23.5 million by 2029-30<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recognising this shift, the 2025 Union Budget extended key social protection measures to gig workers.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the country\u2019s primary labour statistics source, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/periodic-labour-force-survey-plfs\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Periodic Labour Force Survey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (PLFS), still fails to appropriately reflect this emerging segment.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Legal Definitions and Policy Intentions<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The legal groundwork for recognising gig and platform workers was laid through the <\/span><b>Code on Social Security, 2020<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It defines gig workers as those engaged in income-generating work outside a traditional employer-employee relationship. Platform work, specifically, involves using digital platforms to access clients or services in exchange for payment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chapter I, Section 2(35) of the Code offers this broad definition but does not sufficiently distinguish gig workers from categories like the self-employed or casual labourers.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clause 141 of the same Code mandates the creation of a <\/span><b>Social Security Fund<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for gig and unorganised workers.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>National Social Security Board<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, under Section 6, is entrusted with designing and monitoring welfare schemes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, for these welfare mechanisms to function effectively, they rely on robust labour statistics, which are currently lacking in granularity for gig roles.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Limitations of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Inclusion Without Visibility<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation recently clarified in Parliament that while all economic activities, defined as activities performed for pay or profit, are included in PLFS, no specific changes have been made to identify gig workers separately.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means that <\/span><b>gig workers are captured under broad and vague classifications like \u2018self-employed\u2019, \u2018own-account workers\u2019, or \u2018casual labour\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result, key aspects of gig work, such as multiple app-based employment, dependence on platform algorithms, income volatility, and absence of employment contracts, remain unreported.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This \u201cstatistical invisibility\u201d not only underrepresents the scale of gig work but also hinders equitable access to welfare and social protection.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Misclassification and Misrepresentation<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The existing PLFS design does not differentiate between a traditional shopkeeper and a food delivery worker operating across multiple platforms like Zomato or Swiggy.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both may be classified under the \u201cself-employed\u201d category, even though their work conditions, income sources, and risk exposures vary significantly.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Gig work often involves:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lack of written job contracts<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No employer-provided safety nets<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dependency on digital platforms and customer ratings<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Flexible but precarious task-based arrangements<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These nuances go unnoticed in PLFS coding, undermining the precision of labour data used in policymaking.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Current Measures: Recognition Without Representation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In recent years, government initiatives such as <\/span><b>e-Shram registration<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>digital ID issuance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and inclusion under <\/span><b>Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have aimed to bring gig workers into the formal safety net.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, without parallel updates in labour statistics, it becomes difficult to measure the impact, monitor delivery, or identify excluded beneficiaries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 2025 PLFS revision introduced some improvements, like a larger sample size, monthly estimates, and expanded rural coverage.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But it still fails to address the core issue, the lack of a dedicated category for gig and platform-based work.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Towards Inclusive Labour Statistics<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India&#8217;s labour statistics framework must evolve to support the realities of a changing workforce. This means:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Updating PLFS classification codes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to identify gig and platform workers distinctly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Introducing <\/span><b>special survey modules<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or time-use surveys to capture task-based work.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leveraging <\/span><b>digital trace data<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (e.g., from platforms like Uber, Urban Company) to supplement official statistics.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ensuring that <\/span><b>beneficiary data from welfare schemes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> feeds into national employment databases.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inclusive labour data is not just about representation; it is crucial for delivering effective and equitable welfare.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Economy\/are-gig-workers-a-part-of-indias-labour-data\/article69763998.ece#:~:text=Though%20gig%20work%20is%20technically,formal%20contract%20and%20absence%20of\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite policy recognition, India\u2019s labour surveys still fail to adequately capture the realities of gig and platform workers, raising concerns over statistical invisibility and social protection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":53283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1308,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-53233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-gig-economy","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}