Vulnerable Digital Labour Platform Workers in the Wake of Pandemics: Exploring Lessons From Ride-Hailing Drivers and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ghana

This study examines the vulnerabilities and challenges of ride-hailing and delivery drivers in Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic, situating their experiences within wider debates on digital labour, precarious employment, and governance in the Global South. Digital labour platforms such as Uber and Bolt are often celebrated for generating flexible employment opportunities, particularly in developing economies where formal job markets remain limited. However, the pandemic exposed the fragility of these forms of work, highlighting the ways in which algorithmic control, weak institutional protections, and crisis conditions intersect to intensify precarity. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 50 drivers, couriers, and platform administrators across Accra, Kumasi, and Cape Coast, the study employs situational analysis to explore how individual experiences of risk were shaped by broader structural, organisational, and policy contexts. Findings indicate that drivers faced heightened exposure to COVID-19 due to daily interactions with the public, inadequate provision of protective gear, and inconsistent enforcement of health measures by platforms. Algorithmic management further pressured drivers to prioritise customer satisfaction and ratings, often at the expense of their own safety. These dynamics reinforced a sense of insecurity and powerlessness, particularly among workers who relied exclusively on platforms as their primary source of income. The study makes three key contributions. First, it extends existing literature on platform labour by centring African experiences, which remain underrepresented in global debates especially during the COVID 19 Pandemic. Second, it demonstrates how platform-mediated work during a health crisis reveals underlying governance gaps in labour regulation, occupational health, and social protection. Third, it underscores the importance of policy interventions to strengthen regulatory frameworks, ensure fair working conditions, and establish crisis-responsive protections that can safeguard platform workers in future emergencies. By connecting lived experiences to structural inequalities, the paper not only advances theoretical understandings of precarity in the platform economy but also provides practical insights for policymakers, labour unions, and civil society actors in Ghana and beyond.