Teenagers' share in India's gig sector grows 8 times in last 4 yrs: Report

Around 40% of the gig workers now come from the age group of 16 to 23, says a study by Taskmo, an on-demand staffing platform

The participation of youth in the gig economy has increased eight times in the last four years, as employers have preferred hiring “energetic and non-demanding young workers” during the pandemic years, said a report. 

Taskmo, an on-demand staffing platform that offers staffing services to companies like Amazon, Zomato, Byju’s, SBI, Ola, and Uber, has released a research report on gig sector jobs. Around 40 per cent of the gig workers now come from the age group of 16 to 23, the study found. 

A majority of the new young gig workers came from Tier-1 cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai. Companies started to increasingly rely on gig workers for home delivery necessities during the pandemic. The number of last-mile delivery executives grew 271 per cent at the peak of the second wave.

“Although the gig economy provides a lot of appealing benefits, many full-time employees had to reluctantly join the sector out of necessity during the start of Covid-19,” the report said. 

Naveen Ram, Co-founder of Taskmo, said: “The popularity of gig saw an exponential increase during the pandemic. The gig became a necessity and brands started hiring youth. Between the years 2021 and 2022, youth’s participation in gig hit a whopping 159 percent growth. The gig economy provided young professionals an opportunity to indulge in multiple job roles either for passion or extra income. Some are even known to have turned their gig jobs into a career of their own.” 

According to the data, teenagers, between the age group of 16 to 18, have shown a massive 750 percent growth in terms of willingness to opt for gig jobs. The flexibility of job timings, extra income, lesser barriers to enter, and easy moving out option were the key reasons behind the growing inclination towards gig jobs.

Telecalling is one of the most preferred jobs by teenage workers. The report added that the youth are keen on bettering their communication skills through telecalling gig jobs before they enter into their preferred long-term career. Currently, Taskmo’s platform has 70,925 telecallers, who also get a higher income depending on the increase in sales.

Few other job roles such as business development, field sales, digital promoters, brand promoters, and micro-influencers are also popular amongst the youth.

“As the concept of gig is finding wide acceptance, there is a surge in participation of youth, who prefer to take up gig job roles. The career paths of young professionals today would look nothing like that of the 2000s. Gig helps individuals explore their true potential, talent, and preferences. The younger generation is also more open to exploring varied opportunities. It’s good that they do not want to limit themselves to work that comes with boundaries,” said Prashant Janadri, co-founder of Taskmo.