Comparative Study of Online and Offline GIG Workers in Tier-2 and Tier-3 Cities: A Case Study of Jhansi City

The paper attempts to identify the comparative nature of the online and offline online gig workers in Jhansi, a Tier-2 city in India. As the gig economy grows, it is particularly important to learn how and why workers in both economies experience their job experiences, difficulties and economic outcomes, including in smaller urban areas. The study explores what gig work is, income inequality gaps, job satisfaction and socioeconomic variations experienced by the workers in the online marketplace, including food delivery, freelancing, and e-commerce industry, versus prior physical offline positions, including retail work, manual labor, and the hospitality industry. The primary research was carried out by using surveys and interviews of 100 gig workers in Jhansi and examining major variables including income stability, flexibility of work and employment protection. The research finds that the added flexibility and higher earning potential inherent in the online gig work adds, against being more flexible in terms of a higher work insecurity and absent social security. Offline gig workers, by contrast, have more predictable incomes, but they have a deficiency of growth and skill feedback. This study points to the urgent necessity of improving policy intervention toward the efforts of helping out gig workers in smaller cities.