Although online gig work is rapidly growing, there are no reliable data sources to estimate its size. Using an innovative combination of mixed methods that include data science and proprietary firm databases, along with a global web survey in 17 countries in six regions using the experimental random domain intercept technology (RDIT), we estimate that the number of global online gig workers ranges from 154 million to 435 million. The data science–based approach, relying on web scraping and website traffic, finds that the number of unique registered online gig workers is 154 million globally, but this may be an underestimate. Meanwhile, the survey-based approach suggests that there are 132.5 million main gig workers, but when we include those who engage in gig work as secondary or marginal workers, the estimate may be as high as 435 million online gig workers globally, providing an upper bound estimate. In other words, the estimates show that the share of online gig workers in the global labor force ranges from 4.4 to 12.5 percent. Our estimates are higher than others, partly because our methodology made a concerted effort to track gig workers on regional/local platforms that most literature has overlooked, but also because there has been rapid growth in recent years, especially triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although our study contributes to the literature by using multiple and nontraditional sources of data, more research is needed to explore different methodologies to understand and monitor the development of the gig economy in the absence of reliable labor market survey data.
DETAILS
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Overview_ENGLISH_Working Without Boarders_Online Gig Work
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10/2/2023 05:41:00 PM
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10/2/2023 05:41:00 PM
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Namita Datta,Chen Rong,Sunamika Singh,Clara Stinshoff,Nadina Iacob,Natnael Simachew Nigatu,Mpumelelo Nxumalo,Luka Klimaviciute
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Brief (BRI)
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English
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World
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Social Protections and Labor
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Although online gig work is rapidly growing, there are no reliable data sources to estimate its size. Using an innovative combination of mixed methods that include data science and proprietary firm databases, along with a global web survey in 17 countries in six regions using the experimental random domain intercept technology (RDIT), we estimate that the number of global online gig workers ranges from 154 million to 435 million. The data science–based approach, relying on web scraping and website traffic, finds that the number of unique registered online gig workers is 154 million globally, but this may be an underestimate. Meanwhile, the survey-based approach suggests that there are 132.5 million main gig workers, but when we include those who engage in gig work as secondary or marginal workers, the estimate may be as high as 435 million online gig workers globally, providing an upper bound estimate. In other words, the estimates show that the share of online gig workers in the global labor force ranges from 4.4 to 12.5 percent. Our estimates are higher than others, partly because our methodology made a concerted effort to track gig workers on regional/local platforms that most literature has overlooked, but also because there has been rapid growth in recent years, especially triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although our study contributes to the literature by using multiple and nontraditional sources of data, more research is needed to explore different methodologies to understand and monitor the development of the gig economy in the absence of reliable labor market survey data.
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