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As ever more policy-makers, governments and organisations turn to the gig economy and digital labour as an economic development strategy to bring jobs to places that need them, it becomes important to understand better how this might influence the livelihoods of workers. Drawing on a multi-year study with digital workers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-east Asia, this article highlights four key concerns for workers: bargaining power, economic inclusion, intermediated value chains, and upgrading. The article shows that although there are important and tangible benefits for a range of workers, there are also a range of risks and costs that unduly affect the livelihoods of digital workers. Building on those concerns, it then concludes with a reflection on four broad strategies - certification schemes, organising digital workers, regulatory strategies and democratic control of online labour platforms - that could be employed to improve conditions and livelihoods for digital workers.

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This article evaluates the job quality of work in the remote gig economy. Such work consists of the remote provision of a wide variety of digital services mediated by online labour platforms. Focusing on workers in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the article draws on semi-structured interviews in six countries (N = 107) and a cross-regional survey (N = 679) to detail the manner in which remote gig work is shaped by platform-based algorithmic control. Despite varying country contexts and types of work, we show that algorithmic control is central to the operation of online labour platforms. Algorithmic management techniques tend to offer workers high levels of flexibility, autonomy, task variety and complexity. However, these mechanisms of control can also result in low pay, social isolation, working unsocial and irregular hours, overwork, sleep deprivation and exhaustion.

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Building a skilled and diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce is crucial for economic development, cross-border trade, and social inclusion in South Asia. However, underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM education and careers remains a persistent issue. What kinds of macro and micro socioeconomic interventions are needed to increase girls' and women's access to and participation in STEM education and careers in South Asia? This report compares trends in South Asia with global trends to examine how access to and choices of STEM fields affect girls' enrollment in upper secondary education, technical and vocational education and training, and higher education in the region as well as their selection of careers. Based on the analysis, it offers recommendations to policy makers and practitioners to improve inclusion.

The following are among the findings: (1) the five key opportunities to foster inclusion and enrollment in STEM education - and staunch the 'leaky pipeline' - are at the upper primary, lower and upper secondary, and tertiary education levels, and during the early career years; (2) a strong pathway from STEM education to career depends on an integrated, systematic approach that motivates students to pursue STEM fields, builds STEM skills, and removes barriers to diversity; and (3) with the increasing migration of workers between countries in South Asia, preparing a critical mass of semiskilled and skilled STEM migrant workers has cross-border value, especially for workers migrating from smaller to larger economies.

New ways of defining STEM occupations are required to help develop and sustain female interest in STEM education and careers. Potential strategies that governments can pursue include raising awareness and building knowledge and skills in STEM outside the formal academic environment, such as in after-school programs, science fairs and competitions, and summer camps, and developing and systematically disseminating standardized resources. Inclusion and diversity must be championed by governments, the private sector, and other stakeholders who stand to benefit from more diverse workforces. Though women themselves would likely be credible champions, in South Asia they are often constrained by a range of factors. This report addresses some of those obstacles.

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With 560 million internet users, India is the second largest digital market in the world. People between 20 and 39 years of age represent just over half of the country's internet users. This means that workers located in India may overcome some of the constraints of their local labour markets by using digital labour platforms to take part in a planetary labour market. So, for many of these young internet users, digital labour platforms provide an essential income and much-needed opportunity to improve their livelihoods. Given the potentially important job opportunities offered by this planetary labour market, there is a need to understand how Indian workers view and expand their skills portfolios in relation to their platform work, and unveil the points of leverage where existing training initiatives by governmental, private and third-sector actors may need to be adapted to meet their needs.

This report focuses on five key research questions: (1) What are the impacts of the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic on Indian cloudworkers and the cloudwork landscape? (2) What skills are particularly relevant for cloudworkers in India and how are they acquired? (3) What factors support or limit cloudworkers in acquiring the skills they need for their work, and what strategies do they use to overcome obstacles? (4) What connections and interactions exist between the platform economy, informal work and skills training? (5) What conclusions can be drawn for future skills training approaches, in particular for development cooperation?

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