India’s gig economy can service 90 million jobs, contribute 1.25 pc to GDP: Report

The gig economy can serve up to 90 million jobs in the non-farm sectors in India with a potential to add 1.25 per cent to the GDP over the “long term”, a report said on Tuesday. The gig economy, where workers get hired typically for short durations, can lead to transactions of over USD 250 billion over the long term, the report by the consultancy firm BCG said. The firm said gig economy is not a new concept but has seen greater adoption following the advent of technology. A few years ago, when concerns were being raised about a ‘jobless’ growth, the government had pointed to the growth in gig economy jobs.

In the short-to-medium term, nearly 24 million jobs in skilled, semi-skilled and shared services roles could be delivered via gig economy, including nearly 3 million shared services roles and around 8.5 million roles meeting household demand, it said. A majority 70 million ‘gigable jobs’ are in the construction, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, and personal services sectors, it said adding that these will be primarily driven by small business and household demand. The consultancy said its estimates are based on a detailed mapping of job-types across industry sectors to identify opportunity areas and barriers to unlocking demand for gig-based services.

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The potential of the gig economy was determined using interviews with corporations, including large corporations and medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs), a survey of over 600 urban households, and inputs from industry experts. Over the long term, there will be around 35 million skilled and semi-skilled jobs across sectors, it added. The report added that five million jobs can get delivered via shared services roles like facility management, transportation, and accounting, and 12 million can arise from household demand for services, while 37 million unskilled jobs can come from across various sectors of the economy. The gig economy could create about one million net new jobs over the next two-three years by aligning near-term incentives of employers and workers, it said. It said gig workers are typically younger, work fewer hours a day, are relatively less educated, and more often serve as secondary contributors to household income.