Informal workers, jobs and digital platform potentials

Two years have passed since the COVID-19 pandemic entered our collective experience, disrupting economies and the livelihoods of people around the world.

Strict social distancing, lockdown measures and falling demand have resulted in mass layoffs and pay cuts for formal workers worldwide. Meanwhile, the cut in working hours have threatened the livelihood of informal workers who depend on daily earnings.

In Indonesia alone, around 60 percent of the workforce, or as many as 78 million people, work in the informal sector across industries and jobs, from construction to trade, and from transportation to domestic services. Informal workers are employed in various ways: as direct hires with wages, day laborers and workers under multi-party employment, as well as work assignments through an agency or a platform.