The rise of on-demand startups like Ghar Par and Mauqa.online has further supported the gig economy’s growth in Pakistan. However, larger companies like Uber and Careem have also contributed to this trend by offering more flexible and dignified employment options.
While the gig employment structure is not new to Pakistan, technology and the startup ecosystem have enabled it to become more efficient, increase the number of available jobs, and help alleviate the uncertainty of not having work for days on end. Startups like Sukoon, The Handyman, and Fori Mazdoori are aiming to digitize and automate the process of finding gigs to further improve the gig economy in Pakistan.
However, creating job opportunities while protecting employees is a major challenge for startups in Pakistan. The lack of protections for gig workers under Pakistani labor laws is a setback compared to more Western economies, where traditional jobs come with perks such as health insurance and pension plans. The lack of these perks in traditional jobs has made the switch to temporary work easier for many in Pakistan. As the gig economy grows, it is crucial to look at laws to protect freelancers working within it. Additionally, comprehensive policy-level steps need to be taken, such as developing a telemedicine policy and regulating liability coverage.
Recently, we have seen Careem overtaking UBER by change. The localized competition in commuting services is at the helm of the debacle. The whole UBER thing is coming apart due to economic realities. It costs Uber divers around forty thousand a year to make ten thousand after paying taxes, car insurance, and maintenance and then adding on value to compete with more and more drivers coming online while working forty-plus hours minimum. A few people save some money over a taxi, Uber makes a fortune as the man in the middle and jobs go away.
Challenges with Gig Economy?
Let’s face it – outsourcing is probably unstoppable, but glorifying it as a “gig economy” won’t make the transition in the workforce any less painful. The benefits of a “nimble core of managers” with outrageous salaries is really what it’s all about. So this is really just another justification for the libertarian “dream” of “whoever is the most willing to throw his fellow humans under the bus wins.” Globally, millions will lose their livelihood, and millions more won’t even have a chance to get into the workforce.
Using technology as a replacement for labor to create a man-in-the-middle dollar is creating ridiculous wealth for investors and a few founders while creating hardly any jobs. The infrastructure doesn’t exist in most truly rural areas to support the broadband necessary to make work-from-home viable for most positions, and building it out isn’t going to be profitable due to the low user density present.
The rise of freelancing has turned the world into a global marketplace, where employers and freelancers from any location have equal chances of success. Employers can tap into a pool of human resources from anywhere in the world, while freelancers can get hired with the help of technology-driven tools, regardless of their location.
According to a report by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), the Asian countries dominate the digital gig economy. The report outlines the top six countries that take up the majority of online jobs in the global freelancing ecosystem.
The report reveals that certain regions are rich in specific types of freelancing talent. For instance, the US is known for its writing and translation work, while India is famous for quality programmers at a cheaper rate, and Bangladesh has an enormous sales and marketing support resource.
India tops the list with 24% of the global online workers residing in the country. Indian workers are highly competitive due to their better education levels and higher technical knowledge. More than 50% of these workers offer software development services globally. The contribution of freelancing to India’s Gross Domestic Product is a massive $400 billion. The country’s popularity in freelancing is due to the reasonable paycheck, which acts as additional or primary income, especially for women professionals and retired people who fail to find adequate jobs due to family and societal pressures.
