In recent months, there have been several reports on platform workers demanding greater worker rights in India. Platform workers in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and elsewhere, have protested on the streets and on social media to demand better pay, working conditions, and improved social security from platforms.
At first sight, surveys carried out before the outbreak of COVID-19 show that more than 75 per cent of the platform workers earned more than ₹20,000 a month, which is substantially higher than what typical, urban, low-income households earned during the same period (less than ₹14,000 a month) (Table 1).[1] However, as I argue in this post, there is a need to understand the financial status-quo of platform workers and their households that go beyond just their absolute earnings. First, I shall outline what is already known about India’s low-income households in general and the urban households in particular, and where the platform workers stand among the larger class of urban, low-income households engaged primarily in informal work. Then, I shall lay out some of the many unanswered questions on platform workers’ finances and discuss why it is crucial to explore them to first get a holistic picture of their financial vulnerabilities and to then deliberate on how to improve their financial well-being.
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