Why do India’s gig workers love a job they’re desperate to leave?

Description

“There is no pride in this. Kya karoon (what can I do), I’m just a delivery boy.”Every time someone raises the topic of gig economy in India, the conversation follows the same script. Side A: this is exploitation. Side B: but employment. And then everyone moves on, nothing changes, and 12 million people keep showing up every morning to deliver your groceries.This episode tries to push past that script. Sid Pai, co-founder of Bengaluru-based consulting firm UK & Co., joins Praveen and Rahel to go through a new report—India’s Gig Economy: The Promise and the Paradox—based on conversations with 1,355 gig workers across Karnataka. The numbers are granular in ways you don’t usually see: working hours, screen time, savings rates, and one metric borrowed from product management that turns out to be damning. You can guess which one.The question they start with i.e. “what breaks first if things continue this way?” doesn’t have a clean answer. The more unsettling finding might be that 95% of gig workers report being satisfied with their income even when 52% of them have zero savings. Understanding why that contradiction exists, and what it’s actually holding together, is what this episode is really about.You can see the report here.-----This episode was mixed and mastered by Rajiv CN, our resident sound engineer.If you liked this episode, share it with your friends, family and colleagues. And if you have thoughts on the discussion, write to us at twobytwo@the-ken.com.