The gig economy is the fastest-growing part of the workforce, and it is a labour market characterized by short-term contracts or temporary work. Companies in today’s digital world are adapting their business models to attract more and more freelancers due to their agility, skillset, and reduced cost. Hiring demand for the Indian gig economy continues to grow at a rapid pace in the post-layoff employment market, reveals the Taskmo Gig Index (TGI). While digital transformation spurred by the global pandemic is constantly rewriting the marketing scenario, Indian companies are increasingly on the lookout for gig partners to fulfil roles in Tech gigs, Content modertaors, business development, telecallers, brand promotion, and micro-influencers.
Gig workers are no longer young people looking for a seasonal job: they’re professionals that have had to create new ways of living and working as they can’t find jobs with long-lasting hiring commitments. Gig workers are self-employed individuals who do not have an employer and do jobs independently or through third parties. The main benefit for companies hiring these workers is that it costs less than hiring permanent employees due to lower salaries, taxes, benefits, etc.
As per the Taskmo report, the number of users on the Taskmo platform increased by 21% last month, while the demand from recruiters noted a 5X growth in January 2023. It is promising to see that top recruiters have strengthened their roots across Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities such as Indore, Bhopal, Ranchi, Lucknow, and Vadodara which are picking up their way to gig jobs, while metro cities continue to maintain the growth momentum for gig workers.
Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities have noted improved demand for gig given that companies are expanding their geographical footprint beyond metros by setting up secondary offices in smaller towns. Recruiters are also going the extra mile to attract workers from smaller cities through a tech-driven approach, providing multi-language support, job tracking and monitoring solutions, as well as ease of payments. Moreover, location is no longer a deal breaker as many jobs today can be done remotely.
Given the fall of the start-ups, another population of laid-off employees chose to try their luck in yet another emerging employment trend – the gig economy. There are around 15 million gig workers in India and the sector is rapidly growing satisfying the most preferred working styles of millennials, Gen Z, and Y. As India moves toward becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025, the gig economy serves as a building block that helps the economy achieve the final goal of eradicating the gap between unemployment and income. Freelancers, cleaners, delivery executives, bloggers, consultants, etc are a part of the gig economy. In recent times, most gig jobs are platform enabled, which also gives gig workers the flexibility to work for more than one contractor.
The booming gig segment has come a long way and brought in economic benefits of productivity and employment to the Indian economy. 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.
