Gig Economy in the Global South

India’s platform workforce is growing rapidly, but social protection remains inadequate. JustJobs Network’s report examines regulatory gaps, fragmented registration and weak welfare mechanisms that limit gig workers’ access to benefits. It recommends coherent laws, portable protections, accountable welfare boards, transparent platform practices and stronger tripartite dialogue to secure workers’ livelihoods.

A government job offers security, status and a predictable wage in a market that offers little of these,” Sabina Dewan, Founder and Executive Director of JustJobs Network, told Geetha N V for a piece in The Federal.

Only 5% of India’s youth aged 15–29 have received formal vocational training, according to PLFS 2025 data analysed by JustJobs Network. While training is associated with higher labour force participation and better access to regular, formal employment, high unemployment among formally trained and technically qualified youth raises questions about whether the economy is creating enough suitable jobs.

India’s skills gap is not just about training more young people; it is about making sure training responds to where jobs exist. Speaking with India Today, Sabina Dewan, Founder and Executive Director of JustJobs Network, argues that Industrial Training Institute (ITI) courses need to be shaped around the 𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆, using granular labour-demand data to connect training with local opportunities. She also points to the need to change how young people and families perceive skilled trades, particularly as 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗲-𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 increasingly important in an economy shaped by AI.

How does India’s emerging legal framework for gig and platform workers measure up to new global labour standards? In her latest piece for Tech Law Forum, JustJobs Network’s Kaushiki Sanyal examines India’s evolving approach to platform work in light of the ILO’s new Convention on Decent Work in the Platform Economy. She examines what the Convention means for gig workers and where India’s current framework stands on minimum wages, social security, occupational safety, algorithmic transparency, protection against deactivation, and collective rights.

India is investing heavily in skilling. But are employers investing enough in the people they say they cannot find? In her latest piece published in Outlook India, JJN researcher Isha Gupta argues that employers need to become active participants in shaping skills, designing apprenticeships and creating clearer pathways from training to stable employment.

India’s young population has big aspirations, but limited good jobs, skills gaps and informal employment threaten its demographic dividend. Sabina Dewan examines what Indian youth want—and what reality offers.

India’s labour market appears to be moving in the right direction: more people are working, labour force participation is up, and unemployment is down. But there’s more to these numbers. A large part of the increase in labour force participation is coming from rural women. And much of that rise is linked to agriculture, self-employment and unpaid work. At the same time, urban women continue to have the lowest labour force participation and the highest unemployment rate among all groups. So while the headline numbers suggest progress, they also raise an important question: what kind of jobs are driving this change?

For migrant farmers cultivating informally rented land in Delhi's Madanpur Khadar, rising temperatures raise the cost of survival. With work depending on access to water, secure land tenure, and access to markets, extreme heat exacerbates these conditions, making long hours of work more difficult and livelihoods more uncertain. This fieldwork account explores how heat is experienced by farmers who fall outside conventional employer-employee relationships, and why heat adaptation must look beyond exposure alone to the wider conditions that shape their ability to work and survive

Global tech layoffs are increasingly tied to AI-led restructuring, raising important questions about what comes next for India’s workforce. Speaking to Times Now, Sabina Dewan, President and Executive Director of JustJobs Network, highlights how routine jobs are increasingly at risk, while India’s skills and social protection systems struggle to keep pace with the scale of change.

India’s platform economy is exposing a deeper question about social security: can a welfare system built around occupations protect workers whose jobs, platforms and locations keep changing? JustJobs Network’s Kaushiki Sanyal explores this question in her latest piece for The Policy Edge, examining why India’s welfare-board model is being tested and what a more portable, worker-centred social protection system could look like.

In the latest episode of The Migration Story podcast, JustJobs Network's Isha Gupta unpacks how the recent Tiruvallur ammonia gas leak tragedy reveals deeper systemic issues in India's interstate labour migration. From informal recruitment networks and missing worker records to language barriers, employer-provided accommodation, and gaps in labour protections, the conversation examines why workplace safety cannot be separated from the broader migration journey.