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Working papers

Future of Work(ers) and Inequality Working Papers

SCIS Working Paper | Number 63 | Cook, S and Rani, U. 2023. Platform work in developing economies: Can digitalisation drive structural transformation?

Working Papers Number 31 - 38 

The Future of Work(ers) Research Project launched eight interdisciplinary working papers on the intersection of digital technologies, the changing world of work(ers) and inequality in the global South. This impressive collection of papers by scholars from the global South is the product of a three-year research project, led by the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. Much of the scholarship on the impact of digital technologies on the world of work has focused on the global North. These papers showcase cutting-edge research on the implications of digitisation for work and workers across a diversity of sectors in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, India and South Africa. The papers span Brazil’s manufacturing sector, agritechs in Ghana, click farm workers in Brazil, warehouse workers in Argentina, and various forms of location based platform work (incusing food couriers and beauty workers) in Brazil, Columbia and India.  

The working papers can all be downloaded here:

SCIS Working Paper | Number 28 | Mehta B.S, Laha, S and Sharma A.N. 2022. Indian Labour Market: Post-Liberalisation Trajectory and the Arrival of Digital Technology

SCIS Working Paper | Number 27 | Ewinyu, A, Masikane, F and Webster, E. 2021. Working Alone in South Africa: A Tale of Increased Precarity and Deepened Inequality

SCIS Working Paper | Number 11 | Srivastava, R.S. 2021. Interrrogating a Framework for Universal Social Protection in India

SCIS Working Paper | Number 10 | Cierpe, J.T. 2020. On-Demand Platforms Workers in Columbia: A Labour Relationship in Disguise

SCIS Working Paper | Number 9 | Naidoo, K. 2020. Innovation, Digital Platform Technologies and Employment: An Overview of Key Issues and Emerging Trends in South Africa

SCIS Working Paper | Number 8 | Ali, R. and Muianga, C. 2020. The Future of Worker(ers) in Mozambique in the Digital Era

SCIS Working Paper | Number 7 | Osorio, V.V. 2020. Not a Fairy Tale: Unicorns and Social Protection of Gig Workers in Columbia

SCIS Working Paper | Number 6 | Berhane, Z. 2020. Making the case for a more comprehensive and equitable intervention in the digital economy

SCIS Working Paper | Number 5 | Matthews, T. 2020. Traversing the cracks: social protection toward the achievement of social justice, equality and dignity in South Africa

 

 

THEME 1: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LABOUR MARKETS

The first research theme locates the digitalisation of work within a broader analysis of the political economy of labour markets in the case countries and analyses policy options for improving the conditions of work(ers). The SCIS research team is made up of the following researchers:

Colombia:

Dr Juana Torres Cierpe currently works as a consultant for the International Transport Workers’ Federation. She holds a Bachelors in Sociology from the Universidad de Chile; a MA in Sociology from EHESS in France and Masters in Labour Policies and Globalisation from Kassel University; and a PhD in Political Sciences from Kassel University (2019). She has over five years of consulting experience, having previously worked for organisations such as the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Torres Cierpe, J. 2020. On-demand platform workers in Colombia: a labour relationship in disguise. Future of Work(ers) SCIS Working Paper Number 10. Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, Wits University.

India:

Professor Alakh Sharma is the Director of the Institute for Human Development. During his academic career spanning over 25 years, he has directed/coordinated more than 30 research projects in the fields of livelihoods, poverty, employment, labour markets and related issues. He has also been a consultant to several international organisations including the ILO, UNDP and the World Bank. Professor Sharma has authored /edited/co-edited 15 books and published over 30 research papers in various journals. He is also editor of the Indian Journal of Labour Economics (IJLE), the quarterly journal of the Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), and Co-editor of the Indian Journal of Human Development (IJHD), a bi-annual journal brought out by IHD. 

Dr Somjita Laha is a Fellow at the Institute for Human Development in Delhi, India. She completed her PhD in 2015 through the Institute for Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester. She also has a Master of Arts in Development Studies (with a specialisation in Environment and Sustainable Development) from the Institute of Social Studies at the Hague in the Netherlands. She also has a Master of the Arts from Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Bachelor of Science in Economics from Calcutta University. She was the associate editor of the Indian Journal of Labour Economics between 2016 and 2018. 

Dr Balwant Mehta is a Fellow at the Institute for Human Development in Delhi, India. In addition to his PhD in Development Economics from Jamilla Millia Islamia University, he also has a Master of Business Administration from the Indira Gandhi National Open University. He has more than 20 years’ experience in economic and policy analysis research and teaching, and has served as an editor of the Journal of Development Policy Review and has served as an editorial team member and reviewer for five other academic journals. In 2020, he was awarded the Outstanding Scientist Award in social science research by the VDGOOD Professional Association in India. Furthermore, India’s Amity University awarded him the Amity Excellence Award for his research on the labour market and human development. He is a widely published author, having produced more than 20 outputs.

Mozambique: 

Rosimina Ali is an economic researcher at the Institute of Social and Economic Studies (IESE) in Mozambique. Her research focuses on the political economy of labour markets, social reproduction, structural economic transformation and the dynamics of capital accumulation. After completing her Bachelor’s in Economics at Eduardo Mondlane University (2008), she completed her Master’s in Development Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (2012). She has over ten years’ work experience as a researcher and has produced over 20 publications. 

Ali, R. and Muianga, C. 2020. The future of work(ers) in Mozambique in the digital era. Future of Work(ers) SCIS Working Paper Number 8. Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, Wits University.

Carlos Muianga is a researcher at the Institute for Social and Economic Studies (IESE) in Mozambique. His research primarily focuses on the political economy of growth and transformation in Mozambique, including labour and employment within this system of capital accumulation in Mozambique. In 2014, he completed his Masters in Development Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where he recently started his PhD in Development Studies (2020). His doctoral research is on the political economy of agrarian change, with a specific focus on processes of rural/agrarian differentiation and (capitalist) class formation in Mozambique. He is also an alumnus of Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, where he completed his undergraduate in Economics (2009). He has published widely, having produced working papers, co-/authored book chapters, and co-edited two books, including Employment and Economic and Social Transformation in Mozambique.

South Africa:

Karmen Naidoo is currently a doctoral candidate in Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests are development economics and labour economics. In particular, she is interested in the impacts of trade and technology on the labour market. She is also a research assistant at the Political Economy Research Institute, working on capital flight and governance in South Africa. Previously, Karmen was a Senior Researcher at the Development Policy Research Unit (University of Cape Town), where she worked on projects related to labour markets, poverty and inequality in Africa. 

Naidoo, K. 2020. Innovation, Digital Platform Technologies and Employment: An Overview of Key Issues and Emerging Trends in South Africa. Future of Work(ers) SCIS Working Paper Number 9. Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, Wits University.

THEME 2: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND SOCIAL PROTECTION

The second research theme explores the role of social protection, both as a buffer to the adverse effects of digital technological change on the world of work(ers) and as a subject of digitalisation in its own right. The SCIS research team is made up of the following researchers:

Colombia:

Ms Veronica Velez Osorio is a consultant and researcher on labour policies and social protection. She is based in Berlin and holds an M.A. in Labour Policies and Globalisation from the University of Kassel and the Berlin School of Economics and Law. She has worked as a researcher at Escuela Nacional Sindical (National School for Trade Unions) in Colombia. She is currently working as a consultant for the International Transport Workers’ Federation on a research project. She has been working as a researcher at SCIS on the project ‘Technology and the Future of Work’, writing a paper about the deficient development of the right to social protection in Colombia and ongoing tensions surrounding extending coverage to digital platform workers. The paper also analyses the debates on the potential introduction of a basic income as an anti-poverty focused social protection measure during 沙巴体育官网_2024欧洲杯博彩app@ times.

Velez Osorio, V. 2020. Not a fairy tale: unicorns and social protection of gig workers in Colombia. Future of Work(ers) SCIS Working Paper Number 7, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, Wits University.

Ethiopia:

Dr Zerihun Berhane has a PhD in local development and global dynamics from the University of Trento, Italy. He has two Masters Degrees – one in globalisation and development from the University of Antwerp, Belgium and another in development studies with a specialisation in rural livelihoods and development from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Zerihun has worked in various positions with organisations providing research, training, and capacity building services and undertaking qualitative and quantitative analyses and impact evaluation of programs. He has worked as a consultant in capacity assessment projects, conducted baseline surveys, mid-terms and end-line evaluations and served as a trainer and educator. His research areas include climate change adaptation, social protection, livelihoods systems, and migration. So far, he has published nine referred journal articles, a working paper, two blogs, several book reviews and technical reports and presented papers in many national and international conferences. Currently, Zerihun is working as an Assistant Professor in the Center for African and Asian Studies, Addis Ababa University and serves as a senior research associate and Co-founder of PBTAfrica consultancy.

Berhane, Z. 2020. Social protection in Ethiopia: making the case for a more comprehensive and equitable intervention in the digital economy. Future of Work(ers) SCIS Working Paper Number 6. Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, Wits University.

India:

Prof Ravi Shankar Srivastava has a forty-year career in teaching, research, and policy analysis. He has played numerous roles including in the Planning Commission/NITI, Ministries of Rural Development, Urban Development, MHRD, MSME MoLE and the UGC. Consultancy and Advisory roles with nearly all major international and national agencies including World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, ILO, WHO, DFID, SIDA, GiZ, Tata Trust. He has undertaken more than 30 major research studies involving the organisations mentioned above, produced more than thirty reports, ten books/monographs and more than a hundred other publications have been produced. Key areas of interest include Development Economics; Economics of Health and Education; Human Development; Informal Sector & Small Enterprises; Labour & Employment; Migration; Social Security and Social Protection; Agricultural Growth and Rural Development; Poverty and Minimum Needs; Decentralised Planning; Regional Development and Economic Geography.           

Mozambique:

Ms Olivia Faite Izidine is the Head of the Social Assistance Department at the National Institute for Social Action in Mozambique. She has twenty years of experience as a social protection specialist. She has also worked as a lecturer at St. Thomas University and the Higher Institue of Science and Technology. She has co-authored several working papers including: The Experience of Mozambique: Child Grant: 0-2, which was presented at the International Conference on Universal Child Grant; The Mozambican Experience before and after IDAI and Kenneth Cyclones, which was presented at the SASPEN conference.

South Africa:

Ms Thandiwe Matthews is a human rights attorney and doctoral candidate in Law and Development Studies, forming part of a joint scholarship programme between the University of the Witwatersrand and the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her academic interests lie in analysing the relationship between human rights, governance, the economy and society, and her work has been published in the Oxford Journal of Human Rights Practice, the South African Journal on Human Rights and Development Southern Africa. Her doctoral research adopts a socio-legal approach to explore the role of constitutionally protected human rights to address structural inequalities of race, gender, class and age in South Africa, with a specific focus on social protection programmes. She is an alumna of the US State Department’s Fulbright - Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Programme (2015-2016).

Matthews, T. 2020. Traversing the cracks: social protection toward the achievement of social justice, equality and dignity in South Africa. Future of Work(ers) SCIS Working Paper Number 5. Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, Wits University.

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