Gig Economy Sees Huge Surge in Participation from Women: Study

There is a surge in the participation of women who are willing to take up gig jobs, owing to an increased work-life balance and flexibility in work schedules, according to a new study.

Gig Economy sees 3X surge in participation from women in H2 2021 and trend to continue, says the research from Taskmo, formerly known as FeedmyPockets, which shows, in a month- around 10,000 to 12,000 women apply for tasks on the platform, whereas before six months, it was only 200-4000 women participant.

Additionally, industries like fintech, edtech, e-commerce, fashion tech and health-tech are showing maximum job allocation for women gig workers.

“As the concept of gig popularises, there is a surge in the participation of women who are willing to take up a gig job. This exponential increase can be attributed to the awareness and convenience that the Gig industry offers to their participants. Women candidates, who had applied at Taskmo are mainly preferred for job roles such as – Customer support, Content monitoring & moderation, Tele-sales, Audits & Surveys” said Prashant Janadri, co-founder, Taskmo.

The research however showed a steady difference in the demographic details of women workers. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought a paradigm shift in women opting for Gig jobs. Around 50 % of women who registered at Taskmo were from Urban areas or Tier 1 cities, around 30 % belonged to Tier 2 cities and close to 20% were from Tier 3 cities. This change in the demography of women workers is highly remarkable as in the pre-pandemic times, 70-75% of women workers were from Tier 1 cities alone.  

Another new report by Payoneer in its “Freelancer Income Report”. The segment has also observed a substantial increase of 42% in their average hourly earning rate from$22/hour in 2022 against $14/hour in 2020.

The report highlighted that the women freelancers’ average hourly earnings rate is at par with their global counterparts. Payoneer accomplished the report by conducting a survey of 2,300 freelancers from over 100 countries. As such, it gives insight into how they have fared since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It noted that though the pandemic created unprecedented levels of disruptions in the job market, it on the other hand gave a great push to the freelancers in India. Freelancers in India witnessed rising demand and opportunity from international assignments. The average hourly rates of the Indian freelancing community saw a jump from $21 in 2020 to $26 in 2022.

Rohit Kulkarni, the senior vice president at Payoneer India, highlighted that Indian freelancing is making a value-driven shift in the global gig economy.

“In the past few years there has been an increase in freelancer income and their movement to more specialized fields like marketing, coding, and finance. More flexibility, better-skilled opportunities, and increased earnings are some leading to more professionals entering this economy. The findings of the report shows that Indian freelancing will continue making rapid strides in the global gig market in days to come.”

The report pointed out that the gender wage gap in India has slightly improved since 2020. It said that in 2022, Indian women are earning 81% of what their male counterparts do with their average hourly rates at $22/hour compared to men’s hourly rate of $27/hour. The gender pay gap stood at 77% before COVID. Interestingly, Indian women freelancers recorded a much better gender pay ratio against their counterparts in developed markets like North America which stood at 71%.

Furthermore, Indian freelancers ousted their global counterparts and were able to demand a better average hourly rate for some of the popular professions like Finance, demanding an hourly rate of $71 against a global average of $41 and Marketing at $47 vs. a global average rate of $34. The studies indicate an increasing global acceptability of Indian work quality.