Gig economy added 40,000 new women workers, but at low wages

• Gig economy, which constitutes for over 1.4 million working professionals in India, has added 40,000 more women gig workers, according to an ET report.
  
• According to Employment Outlook Report by TeamLease Services, the total number of women gig workers in India stands at 67,900.
  
• The wage bracket of such employees ranges from ₹15,000 to ₹30,000.

More women are finding work, thanks to the increasing gig economy but they are being paid less, widening the gender parity.

India’s 1.4 million strong gig economy added 40,000 women this year, according to an ET report. But, they are making 10% less than men.

On an average, women make an average of ₹15,000 to ₹30,000 per month in the newly emerging gig economy.

According to Employment Outlook Report by TeamLease Services, the total number of women gig workers in India stands at 67,900 — including employees at delivery hubs and fulfillment centres. In 2017, the percentage of women in salaried jobs stood at nearly 52%, as per the data by Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2017-18.

Startup Hiring

Food-tech and e-commerce players such as Uber, Ola, Zomato and Swiggy, account for nearly 90% of the total gig workers in India. It includes workforce that is remotely managed by online platforms.

Walmart owned e-commerce platform Flipkart has around 300 women working at sorting centres, packaging and in charge of hubs. Flipkart offers the best wages and provides for safety and health at workplace for gig workers in India, as per Oxford Internet Institute. It is followed by food delivery platform Foodpanda, cab services platform Ola and Uber.

Food aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato too have female delivery partners, thanks to flexible working hours. Swiggy has over 700 women employees at its delivery hubs while Zomato has 500 all across.

E-commerce platform Amazon has nearly 1,200 women employees in operational and managerial roles.

India is the fifth largest country in terms of growth in flexi staff — which includes leased employees, contractual workers and temps hired from agencies. The country added nearly 1.2 million flexi workers in the last three years.

See also:
In India, Flipkart tops the ‘fairness’ quotient for gig economy workers: Report
6 million Indians will be in the gig economy within two years -- that's nearly twice the current size