On a busy afternoon in Dhaka, university students, graduates and jobseekers can be seen weaving through traffic on motorbikes, delivering food or driving ride-share cars. For many, gig work has become a survival strategy in a country where formal job opportunities are scarce and unemployment benefits are absent.
Globally, gig work is reshaping how people earn, and Bangladesh is no exception. More than one million people are now engaged in gig work across sectors such as ride-sharing, food delivery, freelancing and e-commerce. Surveys show that around 200,000 work as drivers, 400,000 in deliveries, and another half a million in freelancing and online trade. The Covid-19 pandemic further accelerated this trend by boosting demand for home delivery and flexible work.
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The entry barriers are low: a motorbike, bicycle, or even just a smartphone can be enough to start earning. While this provides quick relief for youth, the long-term challenges are significant. Gig workers remain outside the protection of formal employment. They have no health or accident insurance, no guaranteed wages, and no compensation in case of income loss. The risks became clear during the 10-day internet shutdown in July 2024, when ride-sharing and delivery workers lost nearly all of their income overnight.
Industry experts highlight another challenge: access to finance. Most ride-share drivers rent cars and give up nearly half their income to vehicle owners. Analysts argue that loan schemes backed by banks could help drivers purchase their own cars, ensuring a more stable livelihood. For freelancers, restrictive rules on dollar inflows make it difficult to access international payments smoothly, putting Bangladesh behind countries like the Philippines and Vietnam.
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Some progress is visible. The Oxford Internet Institute’s Fairwork programme has started ranking Bangladeshi platforms on worker protection, and draft labour reforms now propose fair wages, lower platform commission fees, insurance coverage, and recognition of gig workers as part of the formal workforce. However, experts warn that unless policies balance protection with flexibility, the sector risks trapping workers in insecurity instead of acting as a bridge to prosperity.
With youth joblessness growing and more than a million already engaged in gig work, the choices made by policymakers today will decide whether the gig economy becomes a sustainable path forward or remains a short-term fix with long-term risks.