Digital labour without safety nets: learning, risk externalisation and urban inequality in the gig economy
A S M Touhidul IslamPurpose
This study aims to examine how night-time food delivery gig workers experience and manage occupational risks. It investigates how algorithmic management, inadequate infrastructure, fragmented learning pathways and risk externalisation shape rider vulnerability. The paper contributes to debates on digital labour, learning equity, inclusion and safety in platform-mediated work.
Design/methodology/approach
A visual ethnographic approach was used, combining systematic field observations, georeferenced photographs, ride-along video recordings and informal rider conversations. Hazard locations across Auckland were examined to explore how platform incentives interact with urban infrastructure and influence rider experiences and mobility practices.
Findings
Rider risk exposure appears to be influenced by the interaction between infrastructure conditions and platform incentive structures. Poor lighting, uneven surfaces and physical obstructions, combined with time-sensitive delivery expectations, affect navigation practices. Learning occurs largely through informal experience-based processes, potentially creating unequal skill development between novice and experienced riders. Algorithmically mediated time pressures may also influence rider behaviour under certain conditions.
Research limitations/implications
Findings reflect one urban area and informal rider accounts.
Practical implications
This study recommends improved onboarding, platform-funded learning, clearer algorithmic transparency and hazard data sharing.
Social implications
This study suggests how digital labour systems can reinforce urban inequality.
Originality/value
This study provides a visual ethnographic contribution examining how algorithmic management and urban design jointly shape night-time risk for micromobility gig workers. It advances digital labour debates by foregrounding learning equity and revealing how digitally mediated governance generates occupational vulnerability.