Re:A 125-year-old delivery network that feeds Mumbai
by bobthepanda on Sunday May 17, 2020 @03:37PM
(#23214676)
Indeed. Better economic opportunities and higher levels of general education make it hard to employ people and make money off this work at the same time. At least where I live in the US the gig platforms are staffed by people who can't hold down traditional employment for various reasons, and even with the below-minimum wage these services by and large do not really make money.
The flip side of this trend is the ubiquity of vending machines in Japan, which have the advantage of requiring no sales staff. This is very useful in a country where the labor force is shrinking and demand for low-skilled workers outstrips supply.
Easier said than done.
Not that I disagree, but business models like these are difficult in more developed countries. It's the same reason you will find middle class people in many less developed countries with domestic staff. The wealth divide between the middle class and poor is so extreme in places like India, that you can afford to charge your regular customers enough money to pay poor employees a "good" wage. "Good" in this case is of course very relative. Relative to many other poor people that have no job at all.