Decent gig work in Sub Sahara Africa?

Introduction

To date, the research on the ‘gig economy’ has focused on platforms and work in advanced capitalist economies (Kaine and Josserand, 2019; Peticca-Harris et al., 2020), with only limited research coming from emerging economies. Estimates of gig work suggest 70 million jobs globally (Anwar and Graham, 2020b) and annual growth rates of over 30 percent per year in developing countries (Heeks et al., 2020). The research interests on gig work range from the systems of control and the management of labour through algorithmic systems (Duggan et al., 2020; Kaine and Josserand, 2019; Wood et al., 2019); the conditions of employment of gig work (Anwar and Graham, 2021; Berg et al., 2018); the profiles and motivations of gig workers (Berg et al., 2018; Dunn, 2020); the conceptualisation of gig work and its positioning in the labour process (Huws et al., 2020; Stanford, 2017); the implications for business and labour regulations systems (Stewart and Stanford, 2017); the organisation and voice of gig workers (Anwar and Graham, 2020a; Barratt et al., 2020; Ford and Honan, 2019); and the longer term implications for jobs and traditional HR management systems (Duggan et al., 2020; Huws et al., 2020).

There is the need to think about what gig work means and looks like in different contexts such as in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). SSA is, geographically, the part of Africa that lies south of the Sahara and represents a unique context in that gig work intersects with the large and longstanding informal labour market. The ILO (2018) estimate that 2 billion people work in the informal economy globally with 93 percent of that workforce found in emerging and developing countries. Indeed, SSA persists to dominate the global statistical profile of economic informality with most of the employment in the informal economy (ILO, 2018). Despite the high rate of economic informality in SSA, there is considerable heterogeneity in terms of the size of the informal sector output, varying from over 60 percent in Nigeria, Benin, and Tanzania to less than 25 percent in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Mauritius (Grabrucker et al., 2018; Medina et al., 2016). SSA is also very disparate in its demography, climate, ethnicity, religion, economic development, and industry structure. It possesses large mineral and energy supplies, diverse agricultural resources, and large industrial companies, especially those based in South Africa, that are found across the region (Ayentimi and Burgess, 2021). It has also suffered from extreme poverty, inequality, conflicts and wars, endemic corruption, and the legacies of European colonisation (Ayentimi et al., 2018). Within the region, and in terms of the human development index, the region contains a high development ranked countries (South Africa, Botswana, Gabon); medium development ranked countries (Kenya, Ghana, Angola); and low ranked countries (Sierra Leone, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and Uganda (UNDP Human Development Report, 2020). In terms of GDP growth rates, Rwanda is forecast to be one of the five fastest growing economies for the coming two years in the region (Focus Economics, 2021).

With about 60 percent of its population aged under 25 years, SSA has a large pool of surplus and cheap labour that can be linked to the internet and global economy and is an important potential resource supporting the global digital economy (Anwar, 2017; Anwar and Graham, 2020a). Africa has the largest pool of youth unemployed and underemployed youth globally; nearly 70 percent of the youth are self-employed or work in family businesses and earn less than $2 a day (Ramalingam, 2016). The region's economies continue to be dominated by fragmented and undocumented economic activities (Darbi et al., 2018; Hart, 2016).

Gig work is a consequence of an ever-changing business environment where organisations contract with independent workers for temporary engagements supported by digitally enabled platforms (Friedman, 2014). Gig work is short term and task based (or gigs); the platforms intermediate between buyers and sellers, and there can be three or more parties to a gig contract; the labour process from hiring to payment and performance management is controlled by the platform via automated or algorithmic systems of management; and the workers are generally classified as self-employed contractors and hence are outside of regulations governing formal employment relationships (Berg et al., 2018; Duggan et al., 2020). Conceptually two categories of gig work have been identified: ‘crowdwork’ and ‘work on demand’. Crowdwork involves performing tasks remotely via online platforms while work on demand apps refers to the physical delivery of local services such as delivery, transport services, cleaning, and household maintenance (de Stefano, 2016). The first category refers to cloud-based crowdwork that is generally undertaken in a worker's own home and includes ‘microtasks’ and professional services such as data entry, coding, translation, editing and consulting. Global platforms that operate in this area include Upwork, Crowdflower, and Amazon Mechanical Turk. On-demand gig work differs from crowdwork in that it involves ‘real-world’ or physical engagements such as deliveries, cleaning, and gardening (Stewart and Stanford, 2017) rather than virtual tasks. Leading international platforms include Uber, Deliveroo, Taskrabbit, and Care. Within the two categories of gig work there is variability in the operation of the platforms, the scope of the platforms, the processes of management, and the relationship between the various parties involved in a gig or transaction (de Stefano, 2016).

Is gig work new? Why evaluate it? Stanford (2017) outlines the historical context of gig work in terms of the evolution of short term, insecure, task-based employment such as piece work and seasonal labour. Huws et al. (2020) place gig work within the continuum of non-standard contingent, and non-regulated work that can be found across all economies. While gig work does involve traditional tasks such as deliveries, clerical services, data entry, and home services, it does involve the globalisation of service work through crowdworking platforms. Though there is an element of substitution such as Uber and traditional taxi firms, there are new job opportunities being generated as organisations outsource and sub-contract services, and the growth of mobile phone and internet access, platforms, and apps, supports new businesses and gig work. Gig platforms disrupt many industries and transforms all jobs into gigs. Work can be broken down into micro tasks and sub-contracted via platforms. This in turn raises concern over the conditions of employment associated with gig work and the potential to undermine existing conditions of employment (Huws et al., 2020). Work platforms speed up job matching and improve job search. The platforms offer the opportunities for job access on a continuous basis for those with the requisite infrastructure and skills. According to de Stefano (2016: 6), ‘the rapidity within which job opportunities are offered and accepted and the great accessibility to platforms and apps for workers makes it possible to accede to vast pools of people available to complete tasks or execute gigs in a precise moment of time’. In fact, IT mediated systems of management (logarithmic management) regulate work and performance remotely.

Despite the location in informal employment systems, there are optimistic scenarios attached to gig work and its potential to generate new jobs in the Global South, provide opportunities for youth, and address job formalisation and the international decent work agendas associated with the ILO (World Bank, 2016). Graham et al. (2017: 2) comment that ‘there are hopes that online gig work, might catalyse new, sustainable employment opportunities by addressing a mismatch in the supply and demand of labour globally’. The fundamental challenges are the job generating potential of gig work and whether gig work can support decent jobs in SSA. Notably, the potential around gig work to formalise jobs and improve living standards in developing economies is driving the interest in gig work by researchers and policy makers (Anwar, 2017; Heeks, 2017a, 2017b; Ramalingam, 2016). This research note provides an overview of important contextual conditions surrounding gig work in SSA and how it can contribute to supporting decent work. This help to bring into focus key issues and challenges around gig work in SSA with implications set out for future research.

Gig work in SSA

It is difficult to estimate the number of gig workers, even in economies with extensive labour data (de Ruyter et al., 2019). The problems of estimation include the short-term contracts (gigs), the online work through crowdsourcing that involves working remotely, the multiple engagements and multiple job holding where gig work is secondary to standard work, and the registration/searching for gig contracts (especially online), but not receiving engagements (de Ruyter et al., 2019). Physical gigs whether it be courier services, food delivery, home services, or taxi services are obvious manifestations of the gig economy. Online work is largely invisible, and apart from the platform, the identity of clients and workers is largely unknown. Dunn (2020) highlights that there are differences in the motivations and regularity of engagements of gig workers with some being occasional and not linked to a career, through to those workers who are full-time across multiple platforms, and for whom gig work constitutes the main source of income.

The advanced economy experience highlights the interaction between gig work and formal employment systems (de Stefano, 2016). In SSA most jobs are found in the informal sector, gig work intersects with the informal economy to escape accurate reporting processes or regulation (Healy et al., 2017; Stevano, 2020). For SSA the evidence from the growth in platforms suggest that gig work is expanding. Anwar and Graham (2020a) suggest that Africa has 700 million mobile phone subscribers and 450 million internet users, with the digital economy expanding rapidly. Smit et al. (2019) demonstrates that in seven SSA countries (South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, and Nigeria), there were 4.8 million workers deriving income from digital platforms. Boateng et al. (2017) in their survey of the digital economy identified popular transport platforms (taxi and delivery services) found in SSA that included Taxify (South Africa), Lynk (Kenya) and URU (Ghana). Heeks et al. (2020) argued that work linked to platform mediated engagements is growing at 30 percent per year in SSA. In their study of platform work in South Africa, the popular platforms included delivery (Bottles); domestic work (Sweep South); ride hailing (Uber); and digital work (Upwork). Across Africa, the latest count is that there are 618 active technology hubs of which 85 are in Nigeria, 80 in South Africa, 48 in Kenya and 25 in Ghana (GSMA, 2019). South Africa and Nigeria are the most innovative ecosystems offering well-established investment networks and collaborations though other countries to establish digital hubs.

The growth in mobile phone subscriptions and apps has resulted in additional jobs and new business opportunities in SSA (Boateng et al., 2017). As with the informal sector, the conditions of gig workers are marginalised, and for crowdworking those in Africa are placed at the end of the business process outsourcing model that utilises surplus labour to support advanced economy businesses such as data entry (Anwar, 2017). In terms of the conditions of gig work, the ILO survey on global online work reported that workers from Africa receive the lowest hourly rates of pay globally (Berg et al., 2018). They also face delays in payment and even non-payment for work, long search processes that are unpaid, occasional, and unpredictable assignments, and aggressive rating and control processes (Heeks, 2017a, 2017b). In Africa while there are large numbers of registered participants on the digital work platforms, the numbers receiving assignments is less than 10 percent of those who are registered on the platforms. The evidence is that gig work is combined with multiple job holding, working in the informal economy, and with care responsibilities and study (Berg et al., 2018). Evidence suggests that SSA is not a recipient of the professional and well-paid gig jobs (Berg et al., 2018; Tsibolene et al., 2018). Many of the additional gig jobs are routine, low paid, and requiring limited skill (Berg et al., 2018).

In a context of persistent labour surpluses and minimal labour regulations, SSA is ready for business process outsourcing that requires large and cheap supplies of labour (Anwar and Graham, 2020a). There are, however, constraints to the development of gig work in SSA. First, infrastructure limitations, especially around computer and internet access (Asongu and Le Roux, 2017). However, the advent of inexpensive mobile phone technology with software apps has extended the reach of gig work (Tsibolene et al., 2018). Second, shortages in skills limits the types of jobs that SSA can access towards the low end of the skills (and pay) spectrum of crowdwork professional opportunities (Tsibolene et al., 2018). The skills limitations extend to IT training across the workforce and hence limit the ability to take advantage of the potential offered by digital working through professional freelancing (Kässi and Lehdonvirta, 2018). Third, the global gig work is a winner take all process, so there are other regions and countries in Asia and South America with large supplies of surplus labour and extensive IT infrastructure are also competing for the available jobs (Anwar and Graham, 2021) and SSA has a low share of crowd work employment (Berg et al., 2018),

Decent gig work in SSA

Contextualising gig work is important since the experienced conditions of work, and the prevailing community norms governing employment conditions, are important in discussions around the quality and regulation of work (Goods et al., 2019). Discussion on the quality of gig work in the context of advanced economies (Goods et al., 2019; Stewart and Stanford, 2017) examines the departure of gig work from a standard model of employment that embodies continuity of work, minimum employment standards and conditions, basic non-wage conditions, and forms of voice and representation. The departures of gig work from the standard model norm (de Ruyter et al., 2019; Huws et al., 2020), lead to analysis of how to improve the conditions and protections afforded to gig workers (de Ruyter et al., 2019; Stewart and Stanford, 2017). However, the analysis of gig work in SSA must consider the different degrees and enforcement of labour regulations in that in South Africa and, to a lesser extent in Botswana and Namibia, have an extensive labour regulatory regime (Du Toit et al., 2015; Klerck, 2008; Siphambe et al., 2018), but for many countries in the region there is an absence of labour regulations. In addition, labour regulations that are in place apply to a limited component of the workforce mostly found in the formal public and private sectors. In the informal sector, there is no standard employment relationship to serve as a norm for assessing gig work; work for the vast majority is insecure, short term and low paid; and multiple job holding, including family, subsistence, and short-term work is the norm (Anwar and Graham, 2020b; Darbi et al., 2018).

Given the spread of mobile phones and local apps in SSA in addition to global platforms, there is scope for both greater formalisation of the informal economy and for the introduction of decent work standards. The platforms are a source of data on activities, transactions, and assignments that was largely absent in the pre digital economy. A potential benefit of gig work is that of formalisation of product and labour market transactions. The digital platforms intermediate and allocate work and tasks and generates a digital record of transactions. What was previously informal and undocumented becomes documented through the digital platform. This offers the possibility for tracking the conditions associated with contracts in product and labour markets that were previously absent in the informal economy (Ayentimi and Burgess, 2019). Here there is potential for tracking activity for reporting purposes, taxation, and regulation. A potential avenue is to examine the processes through which gig work and their platforms can be organised to apply decent work standards.

While the ILO decent work agenda offer a potential guide to the development of standards for gig work, the problem is that gig work is occasional, not ongoing, and gig workers are self-employed contractors, not employees. What is required is a set of standards that apply to the gig contracts and to the conditions of work associated with the contracts. The conditions and challenges of gig work in SSA are like those found in advanced economies with irregular assignments, unsociable working hours, extensive surveillance and ratings, opacity regarding contracts, slow and under payment for work, and long periods of job search before securing assignments (Heeks, 2017a, 2017b; Berg et al., 2018). Likewise, the quality of jobs in terms of labour standards is at the low end of the spectrum, however, the research indicates that there are substantial differences across digital platforms in Africa and elsewhere in terms of their employment conditions (Berg et al., 2018; Heeks et al., 2020).

Heeks (2017a, 2017b) suggests an action and a research agenda for incorporating a decent work agenda to support gig work. At the core of policy and research are the platforms since they can incorporate standards into their operations. Where workers are invisible, work is undocumented, and the client/employer is ambiguous, it is the digital work platforms that offer the opportunity to incorporate basic labour rights and standards into contracts. The subsequent discussion is around developing voluntary codes for decent work (Berg et al., 2018; Heeks, 2017a, 2017b; Heeks et al., 2020), with moral suasion being exercised on the platforms through NGOs, trade unions, international agencies, governments, and large user clients. There is also opportunity for governments to pass legislation that will ensure fair work conditions for gig work in the same way that governments have laws that regulate standard employment. There is a need for innovative legislation that provides protection and social security for people working in the many new ways that the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Covid-19 have foisted right round the world, including SSA.

Codes of practice and decent work conditions have been incorporated into platforms that have signed up to develop and apply decent work conditions (Graham et al., 2017; Heeks et al., 2020; Testbirds, 2017). A decent work framework for gig work based on modification of the ILO decent work agenda has been developed by Fairwork, a consortium of European NGOs and trade unions (FairWork, 2019). Through this Heeks et al. (2020) developed a five principle-based fair work framework based on ILO decent work conditions modified for gig work: fair pay, fair contracts, fair conditions, fair representation, and fair management. The platforms were rated according to scores derived across the five criteria and using information sourced from the platforms and samples of those who used the platforms to secure work. Heeks et al. (2020) applied the fairwork framework against digitally enabled platforms involving domestic work, ride-hailing, and food delivery in South Africa. The evaluation system revealed large variation in the terms and conditions of employment across the platforms. While there was positive evidence around communication and worker interaction, safety interventions and pay, it found that gig workers were subject to wage theft, long working hours, lack of collective voice and inaccurate employment classification to avoid any regulatory obligations (Heeks et al., 2020).

There is scope for NGO accreditation of gig work platforms based on them meeting minimum conditions set out for decent work. This is already happening, despite the challenges of developing and applying the assessment criteria. While the process to date is largely confined to European based platforms, the evaluation of platforms in South Africa (Heeks et al., 2020) demonstrates that the process can be applied to SSA. The assessment process provides information for gig workers, gig clients, potential investors in gig platforms, and for the governments in which the platforms operate. Linked to the evaluation process are the potential for certification and within countries, registration. Given that multinational enterprises dominate gig work platforms, evaluating and certifying decent work standards has the potential to reach out to SSA.

In developing standards around gig work there is prior evidence of intervention by key stakeholders to support decent work conditions. The 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh highlighted the dangerous working conditions faced by employees in the ready-made garment sector. In the aftermath of the disaster a coalition of NGOs, international agencies, global apparel chains, and trade unions developed codes of practice to improve working and safety conditions in the industry. The response indicated that stakeholder coalitions could improve working conditions in an industry that was driven by cost pressures and global pressures, and where governments in emerging economies were dependent on global corporations to sustain an important export and employment sector. While consumer led and global social responsibility initiatives are important, they have limited impact in terms of coverage and duration. Donaghey and Reinecke (2018) discuss the differences between the corporate responsibility approach to labour standards and the industrial democracy approach, highlighting the importance of embedding improvements in conditions through employee participation. There were gaps in auditing and enforcement of the regulations, and they only applied to those plants linked to the global apparel buyers. There were gaps in the global supply chain in terms of stakeholder participation. An important one was the governments of the Western economies, a large source of global demand for the industry, who were absent despite their benefitting from tariff and sales tax revenues on apparel products. The problem is what has been labelled as the “spotlight” approach, targeting one country, or one issue, or one stakeholder, while leaving gaps in the regulatory system (Kabeer et al., 2020; Tanjeem, 2021).

The broad lessons from the Rana Plaza disaster and its aftermath for the global gig economy is that corporate led initiatives can have a tangible impact in improving labour standards in emerging economies but without other key stakeholders there are challenges in sustaining decent work conditions. With gig work the focus is on platforms, not physical plants, and there is the potential for reaching gig workers across the globe, not in one country. Several the decent work initiatives in gig work standards in South Africa (Heeks et al., 2020) do involve platform owners, NGOs, governments, and unions, and offer a template for the development of decent work conditions.

Where to from here?

The gig economy in SSA is growing and will continue to grow. There are optimistic projections around the potential to create jobs and address the challenges of unemployment, especially of youth, and underemployment in SSA (Ramalingam, 2016). Researchers have identified the potential for utilising the platforms as focus for developing decent job standards for work within a context of informal employment arrangements (Heeks, 2017a, 2017b). Future research can further examine the potential pathways towards developing fair work conditions into gig work.

First, the development of minimum conditions that can be incorporated into gig engagements. Using the decent work standards developed by Fairwork (2019) a rating system is developed to apply to platforms and an overall rating is provided. This opens the possibility of accreditation and support from NGOs and socially responsive investment funds to certify and endorse platforms based on their embodied fair work conditions, and to inform prospective gig workers about the conditions associated with working for the ranked platforms.

Second, incorporate more SSA based platforms into the evaluation of job quality and gig work. The research has tended to focus on the largest economies and those with the largest platforms in the region – South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya – but very little is known about gig work in other countries of the region, such as Chad, Mali, Madagascar, Tanzania, and Namibia. The evaluation of the platforms in terms of job standards not only informs research, but also informs platform users, NGOs linked to decent work objectives, and policy makers.

Third, moving from evaluation towards implementation. If decent work standards are evaluated, then how can such reports be used? Apart from providing information to key stakeholders, there is the potential for certification and registration systems to consolidate decent work standards into platforms. There is also very little discussion on the role that the balance of power between the platform providers and the gig workers play in determining working conditions and pay. This includes discussing innovative and practical ways in which gig workers could empower themselves, from the use of social media through to rating systems to identify those platforms that meet minimum employment standards.

Fourth, the motivations for engaging in gig work vary across the gig workforce with many gig workers being engaged on an irregular basis as gig work is a secondary or occasional job (Dunn, 2020) whereas others may view it as their main source of employment and economic livelihood due to the rising levels of unemployment in the region. The data suggests that the registered users on crowdsourcing and freelancing platforms is around 10 times the number of active assignments, and that those who do gain assignments, obtain them irregularly (Berg et al., 2018). In keeping with the informal economy context in SSA and multiple job holding, for many gig workers there are other sources of work (Anwar and Graham, 2020b). Prior research has paid attention to the platforms and the conditions of employment, however, there is an absence of research on the gig workers and their experiences and motivations. Specifically, whether gig work remains occasional and insecure, and is a part of a cycle of insecurity and multiple job holdings, or whether it does lead to opportunities in terms of better paid work and the transitioning to secure employment (Dunn, 2020). Just as gig work in advanced economies supports transitional labour markets adjustment and other activities (work caring and studying) (Berg et al., 2018), in developing economies gig work appears as one component of income support and is unlikely to be a primary career employment position (Anwar and Graham, 2020b). Here there is the need for more longitudinal research on gig work and gig workers.

Fifth, collective representation of gig workers is problematic given their status as self-employed and independent contractors, their isolation and dispersion, and their exclusion from formal regulatory processes, including trade unions. Anwar and Graham (2021) commented that ‘gig workers are expected to have fewer opportunities to exert their agency and collective voice, where the high proportion of informal economy and a lack of employment opportunities in local labour markets already constrain workers’ ability to earn livelihoods’ (p. 1269). However, employee voice and collective organisation can be supported by social media and through community networks (Ford and Honan, 2019). Isolation and anonymity can be addressed through social media platforms that bring gig workers together to share information, develop collective identity and provide collective support. Social networking platforms support information sharing and community action (Wood et al., 2018). Anwar and Graham (2021) outline how social media provides agency for platform workers to share information and develop collective identity. Further case study research on how online platforms supports worker campaigns and offers collective organisation and resistance, especially through interacting with key stakeholder groups, with Webster (2020) noting the collective action of food delivery workers in Johannesburg, South Africa, where 1000 food couriers, using WhatsApp discussion groups, collectively logged out of the delivery platform resulting in the platform ceasing operations.

Finally, an important and missing element is gig work and the access it provides to groups who may otherwise face problems in accessing paid work by virtue of location (outside of large cities), caring responsibilities, or personal characteristics such as age, gender, disability, ethnicity, and sexuality. To what extent does gig work improve access to the labour market for disadvantaged cohorts in the workforce? By its very nature online work may provide access to those who have limited access to physical labour markets due to personal circumstances and demographic characteristics. However, there may be inequalities around access to digital capabilities, computers, software, and the internet; in turn existing inequalities based on technological literacy, educational attainment, age, and location may be exacerbated (van Doorn, 2017).

Conclusions

Gig work is growing globally, and the COVID 19 crisis has seen the digital economy expanding as online business, physical gig work and remoting working opportunities increase (Wheatley et al., 2021). In SSA the infrastructure and platforms supporting gig work are growing. While the global gig platforms are managed from advanced economies, suggesting a new phase of Western colonialism in SSA (Anwar, 2017), there is evidence of the spread of platform work and emerging locally owned platforms across SSA (Boateng et al., 2017; Tsibolene et al., 2018).

The research by Fairwork (2019) indicates how a fair work agenda can be developed so that platforms could be harnessed to support decent gig work. The critiques of gig work in developed economies context highlight its ambiguity, the potential for exploitation and diminished employment conditions, and the evasion of regulations from safety through to labour standards, taxation, and social security (de Stefano, 2016; Stewart and Stanford, 2017). The analysis of gig workers in developing economies highlights the dilemma of opportunities versus poor employment conditions. Gig work offers employment and income but often there are delays in payment, underpayment, irregular and unpredictable assignments, poor communications, and an absence of transparency in the allocation of assignments (Berg et al., 2018). Within the weak regulatory environment of SSA and given the global nature of digitally enabled platforms work, it is extremely challenging for policy makers to regulate arrangements that are not documented, involve offshore owned platforms, do not have a clearly identified employer, involve both local and offshore work, and involve multiple assignments and ambiguous workplaces (Vandaele, 2018). However, gig work platforms are a potential source of indirect regulation of the conditions associated with gig employment. Given that many of these platforms are based in developed economies there is the opportunity for governments to negotiate employment standards and basic rights with the platform owners (Heeks, 2017a, 2017b; Malik et al., 2017). Identified codes of conduct include trade union supported codes such as Fair Crowd Work, Testbirds, Turpokitan Dynamo, and industry-based codes such as the FairTrade Software Foundation (Berg et al., 2018). Here there is the potential for research, policy, and co-ordinated action to use the platforms and the ratings of the platforms to support a decent work agenda across all countries. In addition, future research needs to better recognise or position the problem of ‘what is decent’ work in a SSA context of large informal sector, limited labour regulations, fragmented labour markets, limited voice, and poor employment conditions.