The maiden report on the working conditions of workers in the gig economy of Ghana is set to be launched on November 30, 2021 based on data collected from May to October 2021 from digital platform workers and managers in Ghana’s major cities of Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi.

The Fairwork Ghana 2021 report looks at the working conditions of 10 digital labour platforms against five global principles of Fairwork which include fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management, and fair representation.

Ghana has witnessed a rapid growth of the platform economy and its associated employment opportunities for thousands of its citizens in recent years. However, existing labour laws do not adequately protect these workers, who work mainly with ride-hailing and delivery apps.

As such, the Fairwork Ghana report is set to provide a baseline of the current situation of platform workers in Ghana to kick start a national conversation on how to improve their working conditions while harnessing the potential of these platforms to create decent jobs.

The 10 digital platforms covered by the report

A press release announcing the launch of the report, stated that Uber, Bolt, Bolt Food, Yango, Black Ride, Swift Wheel, IFerch, Eziban, Jumia Food and Glovo were all evaluated and scored against all five principles to assess whether they provide basic labour standards like minimum wage or protection against accidents.

The release indicated that the Fairwork Ghana project is supported by ‘Invest for Jobs’ of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Fairwork, the release highlighted, is a global project based at the Oxford Internet Institute and the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre.

It is estimated that by 2030, digital commerce platforms may enable livelihoods for 1.9 to 4.5 million people in Ghana, according to the Fairwork project team. In a jobless growth economy like Ghana, the digital economy could play an extremely important role in lifting people out of poverty and enhancing livelihoods.

In 2016, Uber, one of the world’s largest gig work companies, launched its operations in Ghana. Bolt followed shortly after in 2018. These platforms have been growing rapidly in the last couple of years, offering opportunities for the jobless youth in Ghana.

Beyond transportation, digital labour platforms also operate in Ghana’s logistics, delivery and other sectors of the economy. These gig work companies operate in a digital system where they match service providers with customers, setting the price and the commission in the process.

The Gig Economy workers

The workers on these platforms are typically hired as “independent contractors” rather than employees, and are therefore, deprived of employment benefits such as sick pay, minimum wage and financial support in case they are unable to work.

Such deprivations raise important issue of fairness in the platform economy. There have been many instances of gig workers mobilizing over the past years to demonstrate against their working conditions.

The novelty of digital transformation and the platforms’ work management systems make it difficult for existing labour laws of Ghana to deal with unfairness in the gig economy. The laws are unclear about gig workers and the conditions under which they are to work and be compensated, leaving platforms to set the rules of engagement and be the judges of their own case when there is a dispute with workers.

In light of this, the Fairwork Ghana project seeks to evaluate the working conditions of platform workers and engage in meaningful conversations to improve their standards of living. The Fairwork Ghana team believes that the Fairwork Framework provides a great tool to assess the labour practices of platforms in the country by rating platforms against the five Fairwork Principles of decent work.