Measuring The Gig Economy in Indonesia: Typology, Characteristics, and Distribution

Abstract. Work in the gig economy is defined as short-term and task-based jobs mediated by digital platforms. In Indonesia, the emergence of an online motorcycle taxi driver platform in 2015 marked the discourse about the gig economy as the future alternative of jobs on the one hand, and as a new form of exploitation of labor on the other hand. This study is the first to define the typology of the gig economy and identify the platforms of the gig economy service providers in Indonesia. Furthermore, this study estimates the number of gig economy workers by using micro data from the National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) released by the Central Statistics Agency. It was found that 0.3 to 1.7% of Indonesian workers participated in the gig economy as their primary job. This study also compares the characteristics of gig workers in the transportation sector and in the other service sectors with the overall demographics of the workforce. It was found that gig workers shared more characteristics with the formal workers than with the informal workers. Finally, this study maps the distribution of gig workers throughout Indonesia at the city/district level. It can be concluded that the gig economy is an urban phenomenon. Most gig workers in the transportation sector are concentrated in the provincial capital and in Metropolitan Jakarta. Meanwhile, gig workers in other service sectors are distributed more in tier 2 cities in Java. Keywords: Gig economy, gig worker, digital worker, labor economics, jobs