App-based cabbies among worst paid
„Drivers in India work for long hours: ILO
App-based taxi drivers in India work for an average 82 hours a week, which is much higher than the average of both traditional taxi services and app-based services in developing countries, finds the International Labour Organisation. Not just that, hourly earnings of these app-based taxi drivers in India fall at the lowest-end among developing countries.
Most workers in the taxi and delivery sectors work long hours and have high work intensity. Long working hours in the transportation sector, particularly in traditional taxi services, have been an enduring concern in developing countries. This situation has also penetrated into app-based platforms, finds a survey-based ILO study of app-based services in developing countries.
While average working hours in the traditional taxi and delivery sectors are 70 and 57 hours per week, respectively, they are 65 and 59 hours, respectively, in the app-based sectors, with over half the respondents working more than these averages. In India the weekly average is as high as 82 hours for app-based taxi services. The report quotes a driver of a leading Indian app-based taxi service platform as saying that he has to work for 12 hours and sometimes more but he does not get paid accordingly.
A sizeable proportion of workers in both the appbased taxi and delivery sectors work seven days a week. About 28 per cent of respondents in the appbased taxi sector reported working for over 12 hours, while half the respondents in the app-based delivery sector reported working for over 10 hours on three or more days per week.
Gamification platformsor offer of freebies and incentives--have created opportunities for drivers to access higher earnings or bonuses, incentivising them to work long hours. This may also lead to high work intensity, as workers often do not take breaks in order to be able to meet their targets or due to the fear of losing a client or an order. On some platforms, workers' break times are controlled by the algorithm, sometimes to the second, and workers can be fined for staying offline for too long.
The report also finds that the hourly earnings in India was the lowest in the group of countries under study, which includes Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco and Ukraine. Hourly earnings, which includes waiting time, for workers in these sectors range between $1.1 in India and $8.2 in Lebanon.
"The minimum income guarantee will be paid if I log in for 12 hours, six days a week and complete 60 orders, without holidays on weekends. Then I receive Rs 6,000 per week," a worker in a leading appbased delivery platform in India was quoted in the report.
In all countries, the majority of workers earn less than the average in these sectors. Moreover, incomes of workers on location-based platforms have been severely impacted by the Cvoid-19 pandemic.