Inflation has reached a three-year high of 12.1%, while the Egyptian pound has lost almost all of its value.

CAIRO: Young guys on motorcycles and scooters zoom around Cairo, Egypt’s huge megacity, dodging automobiles to deliver over a million orders each day, with little physical or legal protection.
Egypt’s digital gig economy is expanding as economic difficulties force more of the country’s main demographic — educated, urban millennials — to turn to the work-on-demand model.

Because he couldn’t find work, engineer Mohamed Sherif, 37, joined an online food ordering company called Talabat as a bicycle courier in Alexandria three months ago.

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He told AFP, “They bleed you dry left and right, but there’s nothing else to do.”

Talabat couriers called for a two-day strike in early April to demand greater salaries, but only a small portion of the 12,000-strong crew showed up.

The work stoppage, on the other hand, mirrored the status of Egypt’s burgeoning app-based gig economy.

Inflation has soared to a three-year high of 12.1%, while the Egyptian pound has lost 18% of its value.

The rising economic problems coincide with a rise in global commodity prices as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Commissions have been unchanged at 9-18 Egyptian pounds (50 cents and $1) since 2020, according to a courier who did not want to be identified.

“You can work a nine- or ten-hour shift and still not get enough orders,” Sherif told the AFP news agency.

“You could wind up only making 30 to 40 pounds after paying for petrol, oil, and other expenses,” says the author.

Digital labour platforms have attracted 100,000-200,000 workers in Egypt, where 60% of the 103 million-strong population is under 30 and 14.5 percent of university graduates are unemployed.

In 2019, Uber alone employed 90,000 drivers, none of whom had contracts, insurance, or social security benefits.