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India’s 2026 labour survey to count gig workers separately
India's 2026 Periodic Labour Force Survey will for the first time separately count digital platform and gig workers, including food delivery executives, drivers, and home service providers. The data, collected on an…
India's 2026 Periodic Labour Force Survey will for the first time separately count digital platform and gig workers, including food delivery executives, drivers, and home service providers. The data, collected on an experimental basis among existing worker categories, is expected in March 2027 and will provide the first official estimate of the gig workforce's size, earnings, hours, and working conditions.
Currently, the PLFS captures anyone engaged in market activities as a worker but does not distinguish those in platform-based work. A labour ministry study projects the gig workforce will exceed 6 crore by 2047, about 15% of non-agricultural workers. An official said the new data will help the government frame welfare policies and implement provisions of the Social Security Code.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The PLFS, conducted annually by the National Sample Survey Office, currently classifies workers only as self-employed, regular salaried, or casual labour. Gig and platform workers exist across all three categories, making it impossible to know their numbers or conditions without a separate identifier. The NITI Aayog's 2022 study estimated 77 lakh gig workers in 2020-21, but that was a projection, not a census. Official counts will settle a long-running debate about the sector's true size, a question that matters directly for labour codes: the Social Security Code 2020 requires the government to frame welfare schemes for gig workers, but without reliable data, no scheme can be designed. The PLFS 2026 results will be the first dataset capable of triggering those rules.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
