The Unseen Humans of the Gig Economy

Platform Work, Labour Protection, and Worker-Centred Responses in India and Singapore

Abstract

In India and Singapore, the gig economy has grown much faster than the policies have caught up. Gig work is more often than not perceived as flexible and autonomous, but it is also becoming synonymous with income insecurity, inadequate labour rights and protection, and low levels of worker voice. This paper compares the economic and social landscape of gig workers in India and Singapore based on the Decent Work framework and platform capitalism theory, focusing on major platforms such as Zomato, Blinkit, and Grab. India and Singapore were picked as a comparative pair because they are two different trajectories of regulation in the same region, a fragmented, welfare state framework of labour codes in India and a more centralised framework, the Platform Workers Act (2025) in Singapore. The paper reviews existing peer-reviewed literature, platform accountability reports and recent empirical research on the experiences of delivery workers and ride-halers to understand how platform policies, algorithmic management, and national regulatory frameworks all contribute to the workers' experience. The examination reveals that, despite the different regulatory contexts, gig workers in both countries are structurally precarious, both due to risk transfer and to the classification of the gig workers as contractors. The paper suggests that, as they stand, platform and state-based interventions are still inadequate as they target damage minimization instead of worker stability, growth or voice. It ends by calling for the creation of independent, worker-centred support mechanisms that do not replace, but complement regulation, while offering a blueprint for addressing ongoing gaps in growth, safety and representation for gig workers and platform workers with The Unseen Humans (UNHU) platform, an active worker-centred model.