More than a third of food delivery workers in India are graduates, finds study

According to industry estimates, there are 700,000 to 1 million food delivery workers on platforms like Zomato and Swiggy in India. (File photo)

More than one-third of the delivery executives transporting food parcels across cities are more academically qualified than their delivery work needs them to be. They have graduate degrees, a study by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has found.

The survey of 924 food delivery workers also found that the share of overqualified delivery workers increased in the smaller cities to 39.7 percent and 12.5 percent of them had a technical and vocational degree or diploma.

According to industry estimates, there are 700,000 to 1 million food delivery workers on platforms like Zomato and Swiggy in India. The numbers vary with the seasonality of demand.

“They are very highly educated... We found that before getting into food delivery, the workers had all kinds of jobs. There were cash accountants, drivers, artisans, businessmen, cashiers, cooks, all kinds. One person had even been the head of a polytechnic institute," said Bornali Bhandari, a professor at NCAER and lead researcher of the study.

These workers, however, earned less in nominal terms (Rs 20,744 per month) than their peer group (Rs 22,494 per month) covered in the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2021-22. The peer group comprises workers in the 18-35 age group with at least higher secondary education. They were working 23 percent more than their peers and earning 8 percent less than them, the study found.

It added that the real wages of these delivery executives decreased 11 percent to Rs 11,963 per month in 2022 from levels in 2019 because of rising fuel costs and consumer price inflation.

Real income refers to earnings after adjusting for inflation. It is also known as real wage. Nominal income represents earnings that are not adjusted for subsequent changes in inflation rates.

To be sure, the nominal income of the surveyed food delivery workers grew 4 percent to Rs 20,026 in 2022 from Rs 19,239 per month in 2019, according to the report.

Read more: Real income of food delivery workers drops as prices rise