Bhupen Patel, 28, will soon migrate from Mumbai to his native in Gujarat as he has found a decent job in a retail outlet through a gig app suggested by his friend. Incidentally, he moved to Mumbai eight months back from Pune for a better-paying job.
Patel is among many who are finding a better placement as gig workers or temporary staffs. The gig economy has seen an exponential growth in last few years with corporates cutting corners to trim their wage bill amid inflationary worries.
Thanks to the emergence of online portals and job recruitment apps, the life of blue-collar workers and gig job seekers have seen a sea change. The online portals scan talent from across the country to meet demand at an affordable price for corporates.
Balasubramanian A, Vice President and Business Head, TeamLease Services said online platforms and e-commerce firms typically need a large number of gig workers as the nature of the work itself is largely activity or outcome-based rather than time-based.
This fundamental difference makes it convenient to hire gig workers rather than full-time employees. Estimates peg gig workers’ strength in India at about 10 million and NITI Aayog projects it to grow to 23.5 million by 2030, he said.
Small is the new big
Gig workers are in demand for roles such as data and content moderators, telecallers, business development executives, and brand promoters. Interestingly, the demand for these roles is coming from smaller cities such as Indore, Bhopal, Ranchi, Lucknow, and Vadodara, says a study by Taskmo, a gig discovery platform.
Amid worries over start-up layoffs, funding crunch and shutdowns most gig tech platforms have witnessed a surge in demand for gig workers across quick commerce, healthtech, fintech, and e-commerce sectors.
Gig workers are no longer young people looking for seasonal jobs; they are professionals from highly-paid jobs who had to create a new way of living and working after being terminated abruptly. The main benefit for companies hiring gig workers include lower cost than hiring permanent employees due to lower salaries, taxes, and other benefits.
As India moves to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025, the gig economy will serve as a building block for achieving the final goal of eradicating the gap between unemployment and income.
Prashant Janadri, Co-Founder, Taskmo said businesses across sectors are facing the impact of the global recession and cost-cutting is the major reason behind all the layoffs. “Corporates leverage on the gig economy to get their work done most efficiently without spending on hiring and training processes which allows them to execute all its activities by gigifying for maximum profits,” he added.