According to a report released by TeamLease, engineering and MBA freshers are increasingly applying for gig jobs.
Gig jobs are temporary and flexible jobs in which one works as an independent contractor/freelancer, instead of being enrolled as an employee. Gig workers encompasses both Uber/Swiggy agents and the higher skilled workers like coders or technology professionals working part-time or as freelancers. Kaushik Banerjee, vice-president of TeamLease, explains in an interview with Business Standard how the average salary of engineers have come down from INR 20,000-30,000 to INR 10,000 to 25,000 in the last 2-3 years. At the same time, a delivery person engaged with Swiggy or a driver engaged with Uber can earn
anywhere between INR 10,000 to INR 60,000, including incentives. An average of 540 gig job vacancies are reported at TeamLease on a daily basis, with the sector witnessing a two-fold increase in requirements in 2019 alone.
While we’re at it: Seeing the surge in demand for gig-workers, a range of startups like Springwork, PickMyWork, Clinikk Healthcare, and WorkIndia have come up, providing services exclusively to gig workers. Some of the services include finding daily tasks for the subscribers, offering health insurance to gig workers, and executing background screening for organisations.
Bhavjot Kaur, co-founder of Clinikk Healthcare, in an interview with Economic Times, reveals how his startup only concentrates on finding solutions to the healthcare issues of gig workers. While they started with tele-consultations, now they have also onboarded doctors who only look into this segment.
The Big Picture: As long as uncertainty looms over the future of the economy, companies will continue to find comfort in employing discretionary workforce rather than having to make long term commitments. When this is combined with an ever-increasing unemployment in the country (According to CMIE, in 2019, the unemployment rate among the graduates stood at 60%), ASSOCHAM projects the gig economy will grow by a CAGR of 17% of and reach a gross volume of $455 billion by 2023.
This article is a part of the March'20 edition of our Startup Newsletter. Here's the complete publication:
