Platform Workers and Financial Services

This slide deck is related to the CGAP blog, "How Can Financial Services Support Platform Workers?" (May 2021).

Digital platforms are proliferating around the world, including in mega-cities of Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, where a rising middle class' consumption is matched with an aspirational class of workers providing them with services as wide ranging as restaurant deliveries, a ride to their destination, pedicures and a repaired air-conditioner. The services rendered may not be new, but the rise of these platforms globally and the promise of lucrative and flexible work for the workers, has shined a spotlight on these growing ecosystems in recent years. Concerns about worker rights and wages have been documented in the media and discussed by governments.

This deck synthesizes insights from a survey of existing literature and consultations with experts and highlights opportunities and risks for workers as well as gaps in the evidence base around the livelihoods of platform workers.

Disclaimer

This work was funded in whole or in part by CGAP. Unlike CGAP's official publications, it has not been peer reviewed or edited by CGAP, and any conclusions or viewpoints expressed are those of the authors, and they may or may not reflect the views of CGAP staff.