Pakistan Gig Economy: Women Freelancers Earning 10% More Than Men

A global survey conducted by Payoneer, a global payments platform company based in Silicon Valley, shows that Pakistani women freelancers are earning $22 an hour, 10% more than the $20 an hour earned by men. While Pakistani male freelancers earnings are at par with global average, Pakistani female earnings are higher than the global average for freelancers. Digital gig economy is not only helping women earn more than men but it is also reducing barriers to women's labor force participation in the country. The survey also concludes that having a university degree does not help you earn more in the growing gig economy. The survey was conducted in 2015.

Freelancers Hourly Rate by Gender. Source: Payoneer

An average Pakistani freelancer working 34 hours a week at $20 an hour earns $34,000 a year, or Rs. 5.7 million a year, a small fortune for a young Pakistani. This is one of the upsides of the online global labor market for skilled young men and women in developing nations like Pakistan. Sometimes freelancing experience leads to tech startups in Pakistan.

Another interesting survey finding is that freelancers with a university degree earn about 10% less on average than those with just the high-school diploma. This indicates that the freelancers skills matter more than the level of formal education.

Average Hourly Rate by Education. Source: Payoneer

Payoneer surveyed 23,000 freelancers worldwide, including emerging markets such as Pakistan, the Philippines and the Ukraine. Survey respondents comprise a random sample of Payoneer’s cross-border payment platform users, providing unique insights into how these globally-enabled freelancers operate, what makes them successful and what rates they command.

Freelancers Average Work Week. Source: Payoneer 

Pakistani freelancers worked about 34 hours a week, a little less than the 36 hours global average. Indian freelancers log 37.4 hours a week and Bangladeshis 35.9 hours weekly. Freelancers from Kenya average the highest amount of hours per week (42.6) with Egypt coming in second (38.5). Professionals working in Morocco and Tunisia work the fewest hours per week, potentially as a high percentage of them are also working at companies as well

Pakistan's digital gig economy growth is the fastest in Asia and fourth fastest in the world, according to digital payments platform Payoneer.

Gig Economy Growth in Q2/2019. Source: Payoneer
United States led gig economy growth of 78% followed by the United Kingdom 59%, Brazil 48%, Pakistan 47% and Ukraine 36%. Asia growth was led by Pakistan followed by Philippines (35%) , India  (29%) and Bangladesh (27%).

The rapid gig economy expansion of 47% in Pakistan  was fueled by several factors including the country's very young population 70% of which is under 30 years of age coupled with improvements in science and technical education and expansion of high-speed broadband access.  Pakistani freelancers under the age of 35 generated 77% of the revenue in second quarter of 2019.

Growth in Freelance Work. Source: Payoneer

Mohsin Muzaffar, head of business development at Payoneer in Pakistan, has said as follows: "Government investment in enhancing digital skills has helped create a skilled freelancer workforce while blanket 4G coverage across Pakistan has given freelancers unprecedented access to
international jobs".

Global Freelance Revenue By Age. Source: Payoneer. 


In Q2/2019, Asia cemented its status as a freelancer hub.  Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, Philippines made it to the  top 10 list, collectively recording 238% increase from Q2/2018.


Online Labor Index. Source: Oxford Internet Institute

Silicon Valley based global payments platform Payoneer's global survey results on freelancing show that Pakistani women freelancers are earning $22 an hour, 10% more than the $20 an hour earned by men. While Pakistani male freelancers earnings are at par with global average, Pakistani female earnings are higher than the global average for freelancers.   The survey also concludes that having a university degree does not help you earn more in growing gig economy. The survey was conducted in 2015. As of 2017, Pakistan freelancers ranked fourth in the world and accounted for 8.5% of the global online workforce, according to Online Labor Index compiled by Oxford Internet Institute. India led with 24% share followed by Bangladesh 16%, US 12%, Pakistan 8.5% and Philippines 6.5%.

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Comments

Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan’s Gig Economy Helps Smash Obstacles To Women Working
In a country with one of the lowest rates of female participation in the labor market, the digital economy is enabling some women to become breadwinners

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gig-economy-pakistan_n_5ad9e8ffe4b03c426dadba73


When 28-year-old Dr. Aqsa Sultan was nine months pregnant with her first child, she decided to leave her job at a cardiology institute in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi to be a stay-at-home mom.

But she felt a twinge of resentment watching her husband, also a doctor, go to work each day to treat patients. “I was going through an identity crisis,” Sultan says. “After a while, I got fed up and I wanted to do something to be back in the field.”

Sultan found a way to practice medicine from home. DoctHERs, a telemedicine platform in Pakistan, connects unemployed or underemployed female doctors like Sultan to patients in remote areas. Despite having one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios in the world, pressure to prioritize families over careers means that around half of female medical school graduates never enter the workforce.

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Most salons only pay a fixed salary of around $150 a month, Ismail says, regardless of the number of customers. “In my salon job, even if I put more work into the job, my salary was the same at the end of the month,” Asif says. “Here, if I put in more work, I get paid more; if I put in less, I get less. It’s fair.”

Still, while GharPar has enabled women to become breadwinners, not all men have approved of women in their household taking the lead economic role. “Male members of the family think: ‘If my wife or daughter becomes financially independent, I won’t be able to control her,’” Ismail says.

For this reason, many of the freelance beauticians GharPar contracts have their husband or a brother drive them to a client’s house. “The men see it as a family business where they’re also stakeholders,” says GharPar co-founder Arooj Ismail.

Ultimately, according to women like Asif, the gig economy’s flexible, part-time work model — long derided as precarious and exploitative in West — may prove beneficial, accommodating dual mother/worker roles and allowing women to join the labor force at times when they would usually drop out to concentrate on their families.

“After getting married, I wasn’t working at all because I had a child,” says Asif. Today, she typically sees two to three clients a day and juggles parenting and work. “I don’t need to ask anyone for money because I earn my own money.”

“The entire purpose was to give economic independence,” Shameelah Ismail says. “If we want the economy to boom, we need to tap the women. When they see their mothers are the ones earning and the main breadwinners, their mindsets change. They are more open to women working, and the entire society changes.”

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Riaz Haq said…
Most young Pakistanis opting to go freelance: report
Ramsha Jahangir


https://www.dawn.com/news/1533714

Most Pakis­tanis under the age of 35 (90per cent) are opting to go into freelance work — more than the global average of 70pc, according to a report released by the digital payment company Payoneer.

The report titled ‘Freelancer Income Report 2020’ is based on a survey of over 7,000 freelancers from 150 countries, including emerging markets such as Pakistan.

Payoneer says more people (75pc) are going freelance full-time due to income satisfaction.

Freelancing’s popularity is attributed to the potential for greater job opportunity, independence, higher income and a promising move in the direction of wage equality.

Men and women in Pakistan selected web and graphic design as the most popular freelancing field.

In terms of advertising on social media, Pakistani freelancers are most reliant on Facebook and LinkedIn. However, according to Payoneer, in 2020 advertisements on Facebook declined from previous years with LinkedIn increasing by 1pc from 2018.

The data showed that even with the growth of co-working spaces in the country, 81pc of Pakistani freelancers prefer to work from home.

“Pakistan has remained in the top 5 freelancing markets in the world consistently. Now is the time our small and midsize businesses (SMBs) grow beyond borders and drive Pakistan’s digital economy,” said Payoneer’s country manager Mohsin Muzzafer while speaking to Dawn.

“More people now consider freelancing as a full-time career as opposed to a part-time gig, which is a big shift to positivity. This also means an increased landscape of opportunity for our youth and the overall impact on digital Pakistan,” he added.

Global landscape

The report said that the gig economy — powered by social media, global marketplaces and online payment platforms — equipped the global workforce with all the tools needed to chart their own career path, leveraging a freelance work lifestyle to build a full-time career, a “side-hustle” or even just extend their career post-retirement.

“The freelancing economy has grown exponentially over the past decade, and I believe we can now firmly say that the future of work has arrived. Obstacles that could slow or hinder freelancers’ ability to grow, connect and be successful have been removed,” said Scott Galit, Payoneer CEO.

“Freelancers from all walks of life and every corner of the world are empowered to acquire work, set their own wages, market their skills, and get paid how and when they want.”

The report highlighted that the freelance workforce was overall very young, with nearly 70pc of freelancers surveyed being under the age of 35, and 21pc were under the age of 25. This youth movement was even more pronounced in Asia where 82pc of respondents were under 35, compared to North America where the number was still high but closer to 47pc.

While freelancers found value in freedom and flexibility of being their own boss, happiness was most tightly correlated with income earned. The worldwide average hourly rate charged by freelancers was $21, higher than the $19 average rate reported in Payoneer’s 2018 survey and significantly higher than the average salaries in many of the countries surveyed.

Closing gender gap

One of the more optimistic findings from the report was that women’s participation in the freelance workforce had been gaining momentum and the average wage for females was leaps and bounds ahead of the greater workforce. Female freelancers earned on average 84pc of men’s earnings across all fields, and while there is room for improvement, the gap is much smaller than the 64pc average for all workers reported by the World Economic Forum.
Riaz Haq said…
#ImranKhan to set up Special #Technology Zones (STZs) for #IT industry in #Pakistan with land in major cities with specialised infrastructure, like plug & play buildings, for IT companies. low rents, low sales & withholding tax.- Profit by Pakistan Today

https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/08/28/pm-khan-keen-to-set-up-special-technology-zones-for-it-industry/

Prime Minister Imran Khan has shown keen interest in setting up Special Technology Zones (STZs) for the IT industry to support its growth and improve ease of doing business.

He expressed support for the idea in a meeting with a delegation from Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) and other representatives of the industry on Thursday. The prime minister resonated with the industry, telling the delegation he saw a lot of potential and growth in the IT sector.

The meeting was was also attended by Minister for Information Technology, Syed Aminul Haq, Minister for Information, Senator Shibli Faraz, Minister for Industries, Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Advisers Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Dr Ishrat Hussain, Abdul Razzak Dawood, Special Assistant Dr Shahbaz Gill, federal secretaries, Chairman FBR, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and representatives of various companies belonging to the IT sector.

“The IT industry demanded Special Technology Zones (STZs) to provide opportunities for medium and small scale IT enterprises to have less infrastructure cost and overheads to enable them to do their business and earn exports and remittances for the country,” a source told Profit, elaborating the context of the meeting.

Though the proposal made headway earlier and reached the Planning Commission, the budget for it was never approved. The stakeholders are now hopeful that PM Khan has shown a lot of interest in it and he has directed that the details be shared with him and he wants to see it happen.

“PM Khan is himself very interested in seeing this succeed and he will issue instructions and the Planning Commission would have to find ways to get it through now,” said another source.

Two years ago, P@SHA, the official body that represents the IT industry, had recommended the federal government set up IT Clusters, known STZs. The concept was to emulate Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for other industries, but with certain incentives specific for the IT industry to promote its growth. The proposal was presented during the tenure of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government when Anoushay Rahman was the IT Minister.

STZs were P@SHA’s top most recommendation. All the countries that currently excel in IT have STZs like in Singapore, Philippines etc. India, for instance, has over 100 STZs.

In a clustered environment for the IT industry, P@SHA had recommended dedicating clusters of land in major cities with specialised infrastructure, like plug and play buildings, for IT companies. STZs have low land rental, less sales and withholding tax, less utility bill charges, which are all incentives to bring investors and incentives that are necessary for small IT companies to thrive in a low cost environment.

“IT companies get projects that require plug and play and power backups. This is the sort of infrastructure that is necessary for its growth. High rise technology parks do not work it for the IT industry because these buildings have high rentals which increases cost of doing business,” a representative from P@SHA told Profit.

The IT industry has also been pushing to keep FBR in check, with their undue notices to IT companies that increases cost of doing business because businesses are required to respond to these notices that incurs untimely costs. That is also an issue that the industry stakeholders believe could be solved with setting up of STZs with one-window operations, which reduces the cost of doing business.
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan produces 20,000 IT graduates, engineers annually, says minister

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/549580-pakistan-produces-20-000-it-graduates-engineers-annually-says-minister


LAHORE:Provincial Minister for Industries and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal Friday said that government was moving towards right direction by adopting more business friendly policies.Addressing Lift Pakistan 2019 conference hosted by a business group here in a hotel, the minister said the government was fully committed to serve and facilitate its business community.He said Pakistan was ranked at number 4 for free lance development in the world and IT exports increased 70 percent during the last three years. Pakistan has more than 2,000 IT companies and call centres, and 300,000 English speaking IT professionals and 20,000 IT graduates and engineers being produced annually.At present, around 52 incubation and acceleration programmes exist in the country from each of which 7-15 startups are graduating every year. In addition to incubators and accelerators, the start-up of echo system has been strengthened by co-working spaces, business process outsourcing services, 11 fellowship programmes growing scale of angel investment and the launch of local chapter of global initiatives, he said.The minister appreciated the organisers for collaborative efforts in organising an excellent platform to bring together the creative young mind professionals, academicians, entrepreneurs and leading business personalities to explore new opportunities in the real potential of growth of our nation.The minister said the government was working aggressively towards creating a comprehensive start of ecosystem so as to channel the real potential of this growing market. He said that in the World Bank doing business report 2020, Pakistan improved by 28 points on the ease of doing business ranking from 136 to 108 out of 190 economies. He said in order to make national economy grow faster, it is utterly important to continue efforts to ensure a conducive business environment.The government has taken measures which will guarantee and ensure that the business community’s investments in Punjab are secured and their returns are assured. The Punjab government has recently launched e-pay, a mobile application for all business to government and public to government payments in order to facilitate the public and improve country’s revenue collection through easy payment solutions, he concluded.Kilns’ closure delayed: Environment Protection Secretary Salman Ijaz has said that brick-kilns will not be closed immediately in case of improving of air quality index. He stressed upon kiln owners to make their kilns environment friendly by converting the same on zigzag technology to get production throughout the year. This was stated by him while presiding over a meeting here Friday.Director General Environment Tanveer Ahmad Warraich, Director Environment Naseem-ur-Rehman, central and provincial presidents of All Pakistan Mines and Mineral Associations Mir Behroz and Khalid Pervaiz, Chairperson Hyderabad Mir Samad, other representatives, owners of kilns and coal agents were present on this occasion.
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistani feminists' #Urdu #television series "churails" (witches) on #Indian streaming service Zee5 features a gang of 4 burka-wearing female avengers who wield fists and hockey sticks in anger. They dispense rough justice to abusive and philandering men https://www.economist.com/asia/2020/09/03/a-tv-series-about-female-vigilantes-breaks-taboos-in-pakistan


“Not all heroes wear capes,” declares the trailer for a new Pakistani television series. Some wear burkas. The stars of “Churails”—which means “Witches” in Urdu—are a gang of female avengers who wield fists and hockey sticks in anger. They dispense rough justice to abusive and philandering men.

Sara is a lawyer who gives up her career for her husband before discovering that the rotter has sent explicit messages to scores of women. Jugnu plans weddings for rich couples, and happens to be an alcoholic. Batool served 20 years in prison for murdering her husband, who was a paedophile. Zubaida has long suffered under a domineering and violent father.

Thrown together by chance, the quartet run a secret agency that aims to help wronged women exact revenge. They use a clothes shop in Karachi as a front for their activities. The heroines drink, swear and take drugs. There are lesbian characters and a trans one.
Female characters in Pakistan’s television dramas are often depicted as helpless damsels. Their conflicts are usually with children, mothers-in-law or rivals in romance. Lately tv producers have sought to introduce more challenging themes, such as rape and child abuse, but advertisers and channel bosses are not keen. “The most refreshing thing about ‘Churails’ was that it was completely uncensored,” says Aamna Haider Isani, a journalist who covers entertainment for The News, a Pakistani daily. One enthusiastic reviewer called it a “feminist masterpiece”. Another hailed “a monumental moment for representation”.
Asim Abbasi, the show’s creator and director, who lives in Britain, explains that he “wanted to tell a story that was authentic to women I know and to the society I know”. He is able to do so because “Churails” is airing over a web-streaming service, instead of a television channel. It was created for the Urdu-language unit of Zee5, an Indian video-on-demand service. Going digital “allows us to take risks”, says Mr Abbasi.
Pakistan has no domestic streaming services, but Zee5, Netflix and Amazon are all gaining users. Lockdowns imposed to fend off covid-19 have helped to boost subscriptions. Ms Isani says her children no longer watch conventional television channels. “They say, ‘Why are you watching the same woman cry day after day?’” That tv-streaming youngsters are now watching completely different things to channel-hopping elders may explain why “Churails” has not provoked more of a backlash. Many conservative Pakistanis have yet to discover it.
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan’s #gigeconomy experienced a surge in new freelancers due to government intervention with online #education. Global #Freelancing Surges According to New Report by Payoneer. #technology http://www.streetinsider.com/Globe+Newswire/Global+Freelancing+Surges+According+to+New+Report+by+Payoneer/17392220.html via @Street_Insider

Payoneer, the digital payment platform empowering businesses around the world to grow globally, today released its Freelancing in 2020: An Abundance of Opportunities Report based on an analysis of payments to freelancers throughout the first half of 2020. The report provides insights into the impact of COVID-19, revealing that after a short-term slowdown at the start of the pandemic, freelancers are now experiencing a surge in demand. The report confirms the outlook of a resilient workforce that maintained its optimism even through the immediate slump that occurred at the beginning of the pandemic.

While the global economy has slowed elsewhere, skilled workers are jumping on the freelance bandwagon. Professionals are seeking a more flexible lifestyle, with greater independence and fresh business opportunities. As technology continues to advance, companies and businesses worldwide are quickly adapting to working online, ultimately attracting more remote talent.

Key takeaways from the report include:

Back in March 2020, 32% of freelancers shared in a survey that demand for their services had greatly decreased, while 53% expected demand would boom once the current pandemic subsided. This new analysis of payment volume through Payoneer in H1, reveals that their positive outlook was spot-on.
Based on the report’s analysis of payments made to global freelancers, COVID-19 brought a short-term slowdown, but rebounded with 28% growth from May to June.
India, a major hub of outsourcing talent, saw a massive 46% increase in new freelancers from Q1 to Q2, 2020.
Ukrainian IT companies equally showed resilience, experiencing only minor impact on their thriving outsourcing economy throughout COVID-19.

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The optimism of the greater freelance community appears seems to have been well-founded, and the growth of mega-platforms wasn’t unique. As a recent Payoneer survey points out that Freelancers’ expectations were accurate: COVID-19 led to a short-term slowdown in revenue growth but has returned even stronger:

“Payment activity between freelancers and their clients reveal that the expectations for a return to healthy demand within the freelancing economy have certainly come true, and in some cases grown significantly. While May, which was the peak month for the pandemic in many countries, saw a slight slowdown in global revenues, dropping from 17% to 15% growth, business bounced back in June, with revenues picking up by 28% since the beginning of the year.”

In fact, Payoneer provides a list of the top 10 freelancer growth countries:

1. Philippines – 208%

2. India – 160%

3. Japan – 87%

4. Australia – 86%

5. Hong Kong – 79%

6. Mexico – 72%

7. Canada – 71%

8. Pakistan – 69%

9. Argentina – 66%

10. Spain – 66%

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonyounger/2020/09/01/a-new-payoneer-report-shows-covid-19-is-accelerating-freelance-growth/#7580f7b25c02
Riaz Haq said…
To understand this we studied four in further numbers the studied we this understand four of the world's hottest markets(Ukraine, Pakistan, India and the US)
markets developed and emerging both in economy freelance the how of overview
pandemic the of light in realities changing to responded ha

https://pubs.payoneer.com/docs/2020-gig-economy-index.pdf

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Global payment platform Payoneer, in its latest report “Freelancing in 2020: An Abundance of Opportunities,” has ranked Pakistan as the eighth fastest-growing freelancing economy in the world with a year-on-year growth of 69 per cent.

https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/09/15/with-69pc-annual-growth-pakistan-ranked-eighth-fastest-growing-freelancing-economy/

The same report ranked the Philippines, India and Japan as the top three fastest-growing freelancing markets, with the Philippines market growing 208 per cent annually, India 160 per cent and Japan showing 87 per cent annual growth.

Following the global trend, the demand for freelance services in Pakistan was hit hard due to the overall slowdown of the global economy and the desire of businesses worldwide to cut costs. Earlier, Payoneer report on State of Freelancing Report During Covid-19 had noted that 64 per cent of Pakistani freelancers reported a drop in their revenues due to many businesses and companies cutting outsourcing costs and halting new projects.

“Likewise, this response is reflected in the revenue figures where freelancing continued to grow year-on-year but temporarily slowing from 21 per cent growth in March to 16 per cent growth in May,” the report noted. However, while the demand for freelancers took a tough hit, at the peak of the pandemic, 82 per cent of Pakistani freelancers in State of Freelancing During Covid-19 report were confident that demand would rise once the crisis subsided.

This confidence was proven correct as revenues soared in May. Low short-term revenue growth in the first quarter of 2020 was followed by soaring revenue growth in the second quarter of 2020.

The optimism of Pakistani freelancers for a strong bounce-back was proven to be correct. For the first half of 2020, freelancing revenues declined by 5 per cent in January, but soared to the peak in July, exhibiting 47 per cent growth month-on-month.

The report particularly lauded Punjab Information Technology Board’s (PITB) e-Rozgaar Programme as a key contributor in this regard.

“One factor that goes a long way to explain this is that in April, local government authorities took the initiative to rapidly shut down educational institutes as a way to contain the spread of the virus,” the report read, adding that this led to the development of a new online education system and as part of this initiative, government training programmes, such as e-Rozgaar, expanded its services throughout the country, offering people a new way to enhance their professional capabilities.

“The mission was to help expedite freelancing skills for thousands and enable them to earn a living in the most in-demand fields and ultimately lead to a higher employment rate,” the report highlighted.

The sudden rush to learn new skills online also boosted the demand for online instructors. e-Rozgaar’s training programme allowed those with previous freelancing experience, as well as some sort of previous teaching experience, to easily apply and earn extra income by sharing their expertise with eager students.

E-Rozgaar’s latest batch of trainees recorded the highest ever batch income-earning of over Rs25 million in three months during the Covid-19 lockdown. PITB Chairman Azfar Manzoor stated that e-Rozgaar was playing a pivotal role in curbing youth unemployment.

Riaz Haq said…
Rising #smartphone penetration in #Asia. #India, #Bangladesh and #Pakistan have new opportunities to #export online #labor to #America, #Europe. #Asia has the highest mobile phone users globally. #freelancing #gig #digital #economy https://theprint.in/world/india-bangladesh-and-pakistan-have-new-opportunities-exporting-online-labour-to-the-west/828549/

https://twitter.com/haqsmusings/status/1492664640039309312?s=20&t=pHOuQWj-VFbB-wMdOCry_Q


The region should adopt more cross-country collaborations, such as Go Digital ASEAN. These kinds of initiatives undeniably broaden the landscape of the digital economy and boost related infrastructures in the region. Meanwhile, national-level strategies like India’s National Digital Communication Policy (2018), 1st Policy for Digital Pakistan (2018), and Bangladesh’s National ICT Strategy need to be fully implemented and monitored as an utmost priority. Finally, South and Southeast Asian governments should foster a more sustainable digital ecosystem by promoting digital start-ups, removing entry barriers, developing human capital, and establishing national regulatory frameworks for the digital economy.



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Digital transformation worldwide was already increasingly changing how companies make and offer their propositions and interact with their customers. But the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified this, with technology emerging as a critical means of resolving public health challenges and continuing to facilitate the new online consumer landscape. This accelerated digitalization is disrupting the world’s economy, making it one of the most significant growth engines for many developing nations.
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What’s more, with the advent of rapid digitalization, Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines are tapping new opportunities by exporting online labour to the West. In Bangladesh, for example, the digital economy is bringing employment to hitherto excluded sections of the population.
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We are already seeing how digitalization is reshaping Asia. The digital transformation of South and Southeast Asia is opening a range of opportunities for its citizens, especially for younger generations. Many Asian countries are even in the lead globally in certain sectors of digitalization. For example, the Philippines and Malaysia have become the top two countries in e-commerce retail growth, increasing by 25% and 23% per year, respectively.


Asia countries are performing impressively on e-commerce growth
Image: eMarketer
What’s more, with the advent of rapid digitalization, Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines are tapping new opportunities by exporting online labour to the West. In Bangladesh, for example, the digital economy is bringing employment to hitherto excluded sections of the population.

The pandemic effect
During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital connectivity in Asia played a vital role in overcoming the difficulties of conventional trade. The digital economy acted as a key enabling factor in the Asian recovery, Observer Research Foundation reports. According to Nikkei Asia, the pandemic has had a striking impact on Southeast Asia’s digital economy: 60 million people in the region became online consumers during this period. With this accelerated uptake of technology, there was an increase in nearly all e-commerce during the pandemic, with solid growth in sports equipment and supermarket items.


The pandemic had a beneficial effect on most areas of e-commerce
Image: Datareportal
Asia now accounts for nearly 60% of the world’s online retail sales. Asian-Pacific e-commerce is expected to nearly double by 2025, reaching $2 trillion, according to Euromonitor International. From online retail to ride-sharing services to exporting online labour, this digital boom is reshaping almost every aspect of business and social life in this region.



Riaz Haq said…
So, in 2020-21 for every hundred rupees that employed men earn, women earn around eighty-one rupees. This is up from women earning seventy rupees for every hundred rupees that men earned in 2018-19. (Labor Force Survey 2020-21)


https://nation.com.pk/2022/04/29/pakistans-labour-force/

Using ILO’s framework, the gender pay gap in agriculture in Pakistan is still very high—36.24 percent. The good news is that this is lower than 2018, when the gender pay gap was 40.69 percent. To put another way, in 2020-21, for every hundred rupees that men employed in the agriculture sector earn, women earn around sixty-three rupees only. This is up from women earning fifty-nine rupees for every hundred rupees that men in the agriculture sector earned in 2018-19. Again, while the gender pay gap is atrociously high, over the period of analysis it has declined and that is an absolutely positive achievement. The overall gender wage gap has almost halved over the period of analysis. So, in 2020-21 for every hundred rupees that employed men earn, women earn around eighty-one rupees. This is up from women earning seventy rupees for every hundred rupees that men earned in 2018-19.
This report paints a rosy picture of the labour force in Pakistan. But some macroeconomic issues continue to manifest. Low LFPR among the youth, urban unemployment which exerts additional pressure on the cities, gender pay gaps and disproportionate size of the informal economy. Moving forward, serious attention has to be paid on generating meaningful employment across the country, specifically in KP which has the highest rate of unemployment.
Riaz Haq said…
5G technology to be launched next year

https://www.nation.com.pk/06-Dec-2022/5g-technology-to-be-launched-next-year

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication is likely to launch 5G technology next year in the country to cope with the challenges of the digital world. The official of ministry of IT and telecommunication said that the provision of broadband services across the country was the topmost priority of the ministry of IT. He said that the ministry of IT through the Universal Service Fund (USF) had launched some 70 projects of optical fiber cable (OFC) and broadband infrastructure development in four provinces at a cost of Rs 65 billion. “All projects are underway in far-flung areas would be completed by June next year,” he added. “In the province of Sindh alone, 20 projects of NGBSD and OFC worth Rs16.3 billion have been started so far in 20 districts, including Tharparkar, Nawabshah, Khairpur, Larkana, Badin, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Mirpurkhas, and Dadu,” the official said. He said that projects of connectivity of the un-served and underserved communities of Balochistan, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces had also been launched. He said, through USF aimed to connect all the citizens of the country as digitalisation had become a priority for businesses and communities. Under its Next Generation Optic Fiber (NG-OF) Network and Services programme, USF had contracted over 16,000km of Optic Fiber Cable (OFC) to benefit 31.5 million populations across the country.
Riaz Haq said…
The Philippines, India and Pakistan are the top three countries in terms of the number of workers being hired in the Asia-Pacific region, said a new report.

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/jobs/uae-jobs-indian-pakistani-filipino-workers-are-most-in-demand-says-new-study


According to Deel’s State of Global Hiring Report released on Tuesday, Australia, Singapore, and India are the top three countries in the Asia-Pacific region where organisations were hiring last year. At the same time, Australia, Hong Kong and India were the fastest-growing countries for hiring new employees in the region.

In the UAE, Indian and Pakistani nationals account for the largest number of people among all expatriate communities. There are around 3.5 million Indian nationals, 1.7 million Pakistanis and 650,000 Filipinos employed in different public and private sectors nationwide.


The Deel study revealed that software engineering, sales and products were in the highest demand roles in Asia-Pacific.

In terms of salaries, Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea saw the biggest average salary gains across all jobs.

Deel’s State of Global Hiring Report data is based on over 260,000 contracts and 15,000-plus customers across more than 160 countries, as well as over 500,000 data points from third-party sources, including Microverse. All countries, states, and cities in the report have at least 50 worker contracts on file as of December 2022.

Globally, hiring sustained its momentum throughout the year, as 89 per cent of all contracts were for remote roles. Many companies looked abroad to optimise talent costs.

Professor Samuel Dahan, chairman of Deel Lab for Global Employment, said average starting salaries for the role in content creation, operations and fiancƩ increased the most in the Philippines, India and Brazil.

While compensation rates also fell worldwide for new workers for the roles of accountants, customer support agents, consultants, designers and software engineers

Due to instability in the cryptocurrencies, Deel said, workers, lost some interest in receiving payments in cryptocurrencies.

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