Gig Economy of India: Scope and Nature of Dat...

Gig Economy of India: Scope and Nature of Data to Study the Concept of Work and Gig Workers

Author Name : Dr. Hemalatha Bhat

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56025/IJARESM.2024.1211241389

ABSTRACT The digital technologies continue to grow rapidly and have the potential to transform work and workplaces across globe. India is no exception to this change as we witness the establishment and growth of growing gig workforce. The NITI Aayog report on “India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy: Perspectives and Recommendations on the Future of Work”, published in 2022, records that an estimated size of gig workers in India in 2019-2020 were 6.8 million, constituting 1.3% of the total workers of the country. This is expected to expand to 23.5 million by 2029-2030, making up to 4.1% of the total workforce. In this backdrop, it is interesting for students of Sociology, to study the nature of the gig economy in a social space, study the scope and nature of data regarding the work and workplace through available Survey reports, and Studies, published by the Government of India and other institutions. This paper tries to understand work as a concept, categorization and subset of work and gig workers, and the regulation of work, evolved historically, through the available Survey reports and studies.