10 hours on the road with diabetes and no insurance: Gig work is taking a toll on the elderly

This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.

When Mirza Khurram Shahzad, 58, lost his job as an air conditioning engineer in Islamabad five years ago, he sat at home for five months, sending out his resume in the hope of finding a new job. When he heard nothing back, he turned to ride hailing. “I realised that driving is also a skill, and I needed money, so I became a Careem driver,” he told Rest of World.

Since becoming a driver in 2019, Shahzad has settled into a routine. He starts work at 8 am, dropping off a doctor who lives in his neighborhood to the hospital where she works. Then he switches on the two ride-hailing apps on his phone – Careem and inDrive – and looks for passengers until 3 pm. He then goes home. Working longer hours takes a toll on his body. “I don’t want to overexert,” he said. “I’ve developed hemorrhoids because of sitting for long periods of time; sometimes I have gas trouble and stomach aches.”

The nature of gig work – particularly driving, which involves sitting still for hours at a time – puts workers at risk of health conditions including...

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