- An overall growth of 150% was recorded in the payments/salaries to gig workers between October 2021 and September 2022.
- The potential of gig workers can grow further if online retail grows across the country.
- The report predicts that the penetration of online retail was just 5% in 2019 and is expected to grow to 11% by 2024.
A report by StrideOne, a tech-enabled NBFC, titled ‘The Startup Economy Report 2022’ says that 25% of gig workers surveyed reported an over 50% rise in their monthly income as compared to their previous mode of livelihood – in the last one year.
An overall growth of 150% was recorded in the payments/salaries to gig workers between October 2021 and September 2022, the report said.
Majority of the gig workers are engaged in retail trade and sales which includes fast commerce like food and beverage, grocery, medicines delivery etc. Around 56% of the gig workers surveyed previously had full-time employment.
“Startups are limiting their hiring of permanent employees. Gig workers have begun to replace these permanent employees,” the report said. The number of companies who shifted to a semi-gig workforce model has increased by 15% since October 2021.
The potential of gig workers can grow if online retail expands across the country. The report predicts that the penetration of online retail was 5% in 2019, and is expected to grow to 11% by 2024.
Non-farm sectors of
The number of jobs created by the startup ecosystem of India, which is said to be the third largest in the world, grew by 78% CAGR between 2017 and 2022. It is further projected to grow at a CAGR of 24% from 2022-27.
The ecosystem altogether created over 2 lakh jobs this year, according to the report.
However, several startups like Byju’s, Udaan laid off several employees from its workforce as a part of their retrenchment due to funding winter.
“The rapid growth phase and maturity of the ecosystem have unlocked tremendous appetite for scalability, alternate funding options, expansion into the global market and the capacity to enable millions of jobs. This meteoric rise of startups has made India the third largest startup ecosystem in the world and has significantly impacted the Indian economy showcasing the ability to contribute approximately 4-5% to the gross domestic product (GDP) of India,” said Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, founder, StrideOne.
Sectors like textile, apparel and logistics however retain the title of being the biggest job creators in the country.
The textile industry is said to be the second largest employer in India, which has given direct employment to 5 crore people, and 10 crore people in allied industries. Whereas, logistics sector currently employs 22 million people and is estimated to contribute 11% to the overall GDP of the country.
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