Are gig workers a part of India’s labour data?

Table of contents

Important for GS 1 (effect of globalization on Indian society), GS 2 (human resources)

Why in news

The 2025 Union Budget took several measures to formally “recognise’ gig and platform workers, and extended various social protection schemes to this growing workforce. Despite this recognition, the revised Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), 2025 does not include substantive changes to account for the diverse forms of gig and platform work.

Gig workers were first incorporated into the legal framework through the Code on Social Security, 2020.
A gig worker is defined as “a person who participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of a traditional employer-employee relationship.”
Platform work, is “a work arrangement outside of a traditional employer-employee relationship using an online platform to access other organisations or individuals to solve specific problems or to provide specific services, in exchange for payment.”
According to NITI Aayog’s 2022 report “India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy, the gig workforce is expected to reach 23.5 million by 2029-30.
Despite such projections and efforts to define gig work, India’s primary labour statistics source, the PLFS, continues to subsume gig work under vague categories such as ‘self-employed’, ‘own-account workers’, or ‘casual labour’.

U.S. remains the largest freelancer market, with emerging market in UK, Brazil, Pakistan, Ukraine, Philippines, India, Bangladesh.

Central Government shall establish a Social Security Fund for social security and welfare of the unorganised workers, gig workers and platform workers.
National Social Security Board, constituted under Section 6 frames and oversee welfare schemes for gig and platform workers.
Rely on the PLFS for ‘evidence-based policy. When classification itself is unclear in primary datasets, access to schemes becomes uneven and exclusionary.

Though gig work is technically included under economic activity, without a specific category or classification, the survey fails to offer visibility into the unique nature of digital labour, characterised by multiple job roles, dependence on algorithms, lack of formal contract and absence of safety metrics.

Gig work is shaped by platform algorithms, performed across multiple apps and are mostly task-based rather than time-bound.
Workers have no stable contracts, and often rely on digital reach.
Many lack access to benefits or protections available to formal workers, and don’t fully own their work processes, making the “self-employed” label misleading.
Employment uncertainties, income volatility and algorithm governance remain invisible within PLFS classification.
The gender wage gap in the gig economy is 30% (up from 20% in the traditional jobs market) – driven by factors like qualifications, project preferences, rate expectations and broader caregiving responsibilities. As per world economic forum

E-Shram registration
The issuance of digital ID cards
health coverage under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana indicate the state’s recognition of the gig and platform workforce.

For inclusive policy making, India must update PLFS classification codes or introduce survey modules that distinctly capture gig work.