Commentary

Abstract

As young women in our mid-twenties living in Africa, we have experienced unprecedented levels of anxiety and uncertainty regarding our futures. We have all graduated with Master's degrees from renowned universities; but this is nowhere near enough to guarantee that we will secure meaningful and well-paying jobs. In fact, we all know friends, relatives and former classmates who are in the same predicament. The main challenge is that decent jobs are hard to come by, and carving out sustainable livelihood pathways is extremely difficult given the dramatic transformations happening to the nature of work globally. The main transformation we find concerning is the technologically driven growth of the gig economy. The gig economy is characterized by intense competition and demand-driven tasks that leave gig workers with no guaranteed income. Jobs in the gig economy are precarious and often come with no benefits. Technologically driven changes are accelerating, and some jobs are even becoming obsolete due to automation. These transformations have necessitated the rethinking of work and livelihoods research: it must now come up with solutions to precarity and suggest new sustainable livelihood pathways for young people.