I’m Standing Outside Your Door.
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I’m Standing Outside Your Door.
Krishya Nema
Bsc. Economics SY (24-28)
Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
The Set Up
The year is 2926, and you don’t check your phone anymore. Actually, you don’t have one. You’re 8 years old at your first job internship, and you’re craving a no-carb, no-fat, no-sugar milkshake. Apps? What are those? All you have to do is think, and it teleports to the little quantum box in your cell cubicle. Note: You haven’t interacted with a single human in the past 12 hours.
All of this sounds great, very progressive. A marvel of economic, scientific, and social progress, some might say. But let’s time-travel back some 900 years or so. At the time of this article’s release, teleportation hasn’t been invented (yet) and probably won’t be for a hot minute. To the utter dismay of ultra-rich tech bros worldwide, humans have not been eliminated from the instant-delivery scene (trust me, I know they’re trying). Humans, far from being removed from the equation, carry the industry on their backs. At any given hour of the day, on any road, irrespective of weather and traffic conditions, they’ll be standing outside your door.
Is a Win, Truly a Win?
In a young country like India, where demand for work is high, the nature of work is a secondary issue; the first is finding any at all. By 2035, the Indian quick commerce industry is projected to grow 5 times and reach 35 billion. So if you stand far away and squint your eyes, it’s not wrong to argue that gig work provides income avenues for young, underskilled individuals, allowing them to work flexible hours and flexible contracts.
Our numbers look great; the unemployment rate in India has dropped to 3.2 per cent in 2023-24 from 6 per cent in 2017-18, and the Indian government has wholeheartedly recognised the growth of the gig economy. According to a report from the Directorate General of Employment titled “Employment and Unemployment Scenario of India,”
“Of the additional workers joined in 2019-20, close to 90 percent were in the informal nature of employment and more than 98 percent were in unorganised sector. About 91 percent of additional workers were in unorganised-informal sector.”
Now come closer and stop squinting. The picture isn’t so pretty. The hours are long, the work has no security, the pay is shabby, and worst of all, an algorithm calls all the shots. 10-minute deliveries feed into the fires of instant gratification, at the expense of someone else’s safety and well-being. Knowing this, how many people would willingly take up these jobs?
20 million. That is the current estimate for the number of gig workers in our country across quick-commerce platforms, food-delivery, app-based cab, and bike drivers. Back in 2020-21, this estimate stood at 7.7 million, and by 2029-30, it is predicted to reach 23.5 million.
Putting two and two together, we can conclude that as the Indian economy grows and invites unfettered private growth with open arms, inherently exploitative industries such as quick commerce employ more and more workers, expanding the informal sector. The very same sector that employs over 90% of the total workforce and contributes to nearly 50% of the GDP.
Naturally, one may think, “If working conditions are so poor, just upskill and get a better job. If gigwork was so bad, why do people do it?” The answer doesn’t lie only in human desperation for subsistence; it lies one step further (it’s about to get systemic up in here).
If you aren’t already frowning by now, then it’s time to get a little more depressing.
It’s Part of the Program.
Can unemployment ever go to zero? Will working conditions ever improve? Every economy should strive to achieve full employment, right?
Short answer… no! To explain why, we must understand the Reserve Army of Labour. A simple, yet important, critique of the capitalist system we suffer live in.
The Reserve Army of Labour (RAL, as I’ll refer to it) is a Marxist theory (first put forth by Engels) that explains how systems of exploitation thrive by preying on the desperation of those they wish to exploit. I find it best explained by the proverb “beggars can’t be choosers.”
The RAL is understood as those members of the labour force who are unemployed or underemployed, hence RAL is also known as the surplus labour force. It consists of various groups of persons: the stagnant pool, the floating reserves, the latent reserve, and pauperdom. These persons are drawn into the workforce as capital necessitates it, usually following the ups and downs of the business cycles. This was seen in the patterns of mass layoffs in tech companies following the post-COVID-19 cool-down.
As long as there exists a group of people without jobs, there exists a pool of workers willing to accept low pay, zero job security, and mentally & physically taxing working conditions. Following another vital Marxist concept, the Labour Theory of Value, a desperate worker is one who contributes the most to profit margins. Hence, a near-constant supply of idle labour ensures profits are high, and wages are low.
For those slightly versed in Marxist theory, it is not uncommon to have come across the word “proletariat” referring to the working class. In modern academia, there is a growing use of the term “precariat.” This term, put forth by British Economist Guy Standing (Yes that’s his real, legal name), aptly describes the nature of the gig-worker class.
The precariat arose in response to the rise in neoliberal capitalism, which, long story short, can be thought of as state-enabled capitalism. We saw this in India with the 1991 LPG reforms, and we still see it today in the consistent measures taken to provide “ease of doing business.” The precariat has 3 distinct features in comparison to the proletariat, in Guy’s words, these are: (1) Distinctive relations of production (2) Distinctive relations of distribution (3) Distinctive relations to the state.
Distinctive relations of production refer to the uncertain and unfixed nature of work, a scenario where time is out of their control. The precariat must also do unpaid, unrecognised work-for-labour, outside of work hours, often holding a level of education that would overqualify them for the jobs they expect to obtain.
The “distinctive relations of distribution” is a fancy phrase for discussing insecurity and instability of remuneration, and lack of non-wage social security benefits. Furthermore, the precariat holds unsustainable debt due to their volatile earnings and the time gap between being eligible to receive benefits and actually receiving them.
By saying that the precariat has distinctive relations with the state, Guy Standing goes on to argue that this class of workers loses their acquired rights. In the Indian context, this holds true for the large migrant workforce that does not have steady documentation. So when social benefits come tied to app-based registration and Aadhaar proof, protections become exclusionary.
For the People?
So far, my message has been, “Here’s our problem,and unfortunately it’s built into our system.” Now we take it further, evaluating existing remedies. Mainly, the latest revision to the Labour Code. This revised code aims to consolidate several labour laws into four broad codes: the Code on Wages, Industrial Relations Code, Code on Social Security, and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code.
The code on wages established fundamental legal mandates, such as the National Wage Floor, below which no state can set minimum wages. However, some economists argue that the National Wage Floor is not “ambitious” enough, in the sense that several states set their minimum wages higher than the national floor, and hence it is not a meaningful baseline. Secondly, the new provisions reduce the ability of workers to approach the judicial system to address their grievances; the system now redirects enforcement of laws to inspectors-cum-facilitators and administrative mechanisms.
Next, the Industrial Relations Code (IRC). An alarming outcome of the latest revisions is that. The IRC places restrictions on the abilities of workers to unionise and go on strike by altering definitions and eligibility criteria for Union registration. According to the IRC 2020, “No Trade Union of workers shall be registered unless at least ten per cent of the workers or one hundred workers, whichever is less.” It also mandates a mandatory 14-day notice for strikes. There are also new rules that allow employers to recognise larger unions as the sole negotiators, meaning that smaller unions lose their ability to represent workers. To put it plainly, the outcome of these rules, and many others not discussed, can be encapsulated by the image below
Go read more about the IRC. NOW!
Now coming to the Code on Social Security, we have (more) bad news. On paper, the code presents various arrangements for social and economic benefits such as health, education, and maternity benefits. The largest praise of this revised code has been the inclusion of gig and platform workers, thanks to revised definitions. However, there are two critical technicalities.
The second technicality is that most of the substantial welfare programs (ex, health and maternity benefits, old age benefits, education) have yet to be implemented; they’ve been left to be dealt with in future schemes, the keyword being future. Finally, the third issue with this revised code is the transfer of power from the Parliament to the executive branch of government. Laws and rules meant to be framed in the Parliament through debate and discussion are left in vague phrasing, such as concrete decisions regarding wage floors, working hours, social security, inspection mechanisms, and thresholds for layoffs. This grants the executive (for example, our ministries) power to make important decisions and implement them, violating the principle of separation of powers.
It’s Joever
So if we’re able to identify problems, why do our solutions seem to fall short? Can an economy that is liberalising the workforce produce fair and just policies to protect its workers? No. (Throwback to “It’s getting systemic up in here”).
Unfortunately, I believe that the systems we exist in are designed for us to fail. Growth comes at a human cost. This lesson is learnt time and time again, but ultimately, class consciousness is lost to percentages and positive PR.
The Precariat is forced into existence by the same pillars of society that pass laws to “protect” it. Capitalism and privatisation have indeed given us a variety of choices, from apps to products to payment methods to unstable pay with long working hours. And yet, at the end of the day, the decision that haunts the majority is choosing the lesser evil.
I’m Kidding, it’s Never Joever.
Ending with a pile of gloom and doom doesn’t make a difference or create change. But educating yourself does. Uninformed, misled citizens cannot advocate for the issues they believe in and they cannot meaningfully exercise their right to vote. A very wise turtle once said, “There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” Following this, let us not forget that better “tomorrows” are not built by ignoring “todays.”