The global gig economy size is about to reach $400 billion in 2022. However, even as more people join it, some are still left out. Why?
An efficient gig market needs a payment system with worldwide accessibility. However, this is not yet the case. Traditional payment providers have geo-restrictions that block people from earning online and hurt their finances.
Even worse, those 300+ million* people affected are primarily from 3rd world countries, making this a global issue.
Why is this important? And how could Web 3.0 help with this problem? JumpTask investigates how the technology might be a solution.
TL;DR
> Web 2.0 system has payment restrictions that block people from earning online;
> Blockchain and Web 3.0 make payments accessible to every country in the world;
> Web 3.0 enables 3rd world countries to improve their living standards;
> Blockchain helps people to save on transaction fees, attracting more people to the gig economy.Country Restrictions: PayPal Case
PayPal is the largest payment company in the world. It commands over 50% of the payment processing technologies industry and has a market capitalization of around $96.8 billion.
However, they do not offer or have limited payment processing services in many 3rd world countries. As a result, millions of people are restricted from earning money on the side online.
For example, nations such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, among others, have many people in the labor force who are entirely or partially restricted from using PayPal.
Chart 1: Top 5 largest countries with PayPal restrictions, by labor force size
If all countries with PayPal restrictions are considered, the number of affected people becomes even more significant:
From 27 countries with payment restrictions, around 314.03 million people worldwide are partially or entirely blocked from using PayPal, losing access to earning opportunities.
That’s over 9% of the global labor force, which amounts to 3.45 billion people.
Notably, this has massive implications on individual, company, country, and ultimately global levels:
- Individuals: the people affected are from countries with difficult economic or political conditions. Earning online would be very helpful for people to support themselves;
- Companies: businesses worldwide are facing higher labor costs, which means their efficiency is reduced, and they have to increase the prices of their products;
- Countries: as individuals are restricted from earning opportunities, there is less spending in weaker economies, which hurts their development and growth;
- The World: as 3rd world country development is slowed down, the wealth gap between developed and developing countries keeps increasing, hurting global growth.
The question is: can this issue be solved?
Web 3.0 Solution
While PayPal and other Web 2.0 payment processing companies have geo-restrictions, Web 3.0 is different. Blockchain and cryptocurrency could bring benefits to both freelancers and companies:
- Freelancers: People from any country can access a global payment system as long as they have internet access. This would bring more earning opportunities to people from 3rd world countries, helping with their financial wellbeing;
- Companies: With a frictionless payment system, companies could hire people from a global pool of freelancers. This unlocks the untapped potential to reach more people, resulting in cost-saving for businesses and lower product costs for people.
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Blockchain technology allows efficient funds transfer between people and companies without needing middlemen. Overall, direct interaction benefits freelancers in two ways:
- Accessibility: People from any country can access a global payment system as long as they have internet access. This would bring more earning opportunities to people from 3rd world countries, helping with their financial wellbeing.
- Cost efficiency: Both businesses and freelancers would save a significant amount of money currently used for transaction fees. This increases profits for both parties and contributes to the overall gig economy growth.
You can learn how blockchain helps freelancers to save money in our previous article:
Country Restrictions: Swagbucks Case
Swagbucks is a US company providing people with an opportunity to earn points, which can be later exchanged into gift cards or cash. People watch videos, take online surveys, or search the web to get paid.
Notably, JumpTask stands in competition with Swagbucks in the micro-tasking space. However, Swagbucks was founded in the United States in 2008, while JumpTask launched only in 2022.
Being around for almost 15 years, Swagbucks is only available in a few countries: the US and its territories, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and India.
In contrast, JumpTask is accessible in every country of the world. With 1.63 million people already earning money on the platform, the JumpTask project keeps growing and following its vision:
To provide every person with an online earning opportunity irrespective of nationality, location, or qualifications.
And with Web 3.0 technology, which will eventually become mainstream, JumpTask is moving closer to its vision. Stay tuned for more.
*314.03 million estimation came from JumpTask’s research, with restricted countries gathered from multiple sources. For example, check here.
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