Neoliberalism at Work in the Indonesian Gig Economy

Chapter 4 discusses the important role of the emerging online transport service in furthering the expansion of the new precarity in Indonesia. It points to the role of the gig economy in institutionalising the earlier form of precarious work in the pervasive informal sector, thereby, facilitating its extension into the formal sector. This chapter also examines contradictions in workers’ experiences of work and in their self-identities, created by the exercise of a distinct form of managerial control in the gig economy. Though consenting to the companies’ goals to extract their labour at minimal cost, degrading working conditions fuel a sense of discontentment among workers.