ONLINE GIG WORK AND SOCIAL PROTECTION GAPS: CASE OF PAKISTANI FREELANCE DEVELOPERS

Abstract

This research explores the social security voids of Pakistani freelance programmers. The emergence of online gig work has reshaped labour markets across the globe, creating new opportunities for workers while also raising new risks due to exposure to risk with little social protection. In Pakistan, one of the top freelancing nations in the world, gig labor includes a significant share of software developers. In the meantime, these workers who support the digital economy are subjected to a precarity of their own—a lack of steady income or health and retirement benefits. Utilizing a convergent parallel mixed-methods approach we administered 200 structured surveys and held 25 semi-structured interviews with developers who were registered on either Upwork, Fiverr, or Freelancer. Descriptive and regression analyses were run to quantify the data, while qualitative findings added depth to lived experiences. The results suggest that they are vulnerable for not having stable earnings, remain uncovered by the state welfare system and depend on informal protection in the end. The research demonstrates that while Internet gigging can lead to economic inclusion, the lack of institutionalized protection intensifies precarity. Policy implications suggest the necessity of hybrid forms of regulation and platform accountability.

Keywords: gig economy, freelancing, Pakistan, social protection, platform work, digital labor