Covid-19 and Platform Work: Reflections on Institutional Policy Responses

The impact of Covid-19 on labor and employment has been profound. The nature of the pandemic and combative public health measures, including lockdowns and constraints on mobility, had unique implications for different sectors of the economy. Informal workers, who constitute 80% of the total employed workers in India (over 90% in the urban economy), emerged as most vulnerable. Informal workers’ vulnerability is caused by their historically exploitative working conditions and persistent exclusion from protective legislations and social security systems. Similarly, workers engaged by digital labor platforms, who are rapidly constituting a new precariat in urban India, faced widespread loss of livelihood and erosion of rights during the pandemic.

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