UCT, Oxford launch 2021 Fairwork South Africa Ratings report

Launched on Thursday, 8 July, during a webinar, the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of Oxford have released the Fairwork South Africa 2021 Ratings report which evaluates the working conditions in 12 digital labour platforms in South Africa, including Uber, Bolt, SweepSouth and MrD.

8 Jul 2021

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The Fairwork report highlights the precarity of the gig workers’ financial situation against rapidly changing national economics.

The current Covid-19 pandemic, together with recurring lockdowns, has put considerable pressure on the South African economy. The South African gig economy has also undergone dramatic changes during this period. Some sectors, such as e-hailing, have seen significant downturns in earnings while others, such as food delivery, have expanded as society deals with lockdown restrictions.

The findings of the report not only draw attention to the challenges faced by gig platform workers, but also the positive steps that some platforms took to offset their workers’ loss of earnings during lockdowns. It highlights how platforms can engage with social responsibility to foreground responsible technological innovation.

Download the report here.