Japan gig work shaping and squeezing a new precariat class

On September 12, the Japanese gig work platform provider Timee held its first earnings call since being listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in July. CEO Ryo Ogawa lauded the company’s growth, headlined by 72.6% and 60.6% YoY rises in sales revenue and gross profit, respectively.

Highlighting the platform’s 1.2 million and growing membership, Ogawa touted future partnerships with rural regions and industry associations, ranging from restaurants to security guard providers, as a way to fundamentally solve Japan’s growing labor shortage.

Investors, however, are increasingly skeptical. After rising as much as 28% after the IPO, Timee’s stock price has since steadily fallen to a level nearly 40% below the IPO price.

Rather than blaming Timee’s fundamentals, analysts attributed the decline to the prospects of Timee facing stiff competition in the future from larger, more well-resourced internet giants like Mercuri jumping into the line of business and rapidly poaching Timee’s clientele.

In other words, the success of Timee’s business model may be its very downfall.

Rise of the precariat

Indeed, Timee’s success speaks to some dramatic changes in the Japanese labor markets. While “irregular employment,” including part-time, contract and freelance workers, represented less than 15% of the Japanese labor force in 1985, the figure soared to 37% by 2023, numbering more than 21 million.

Among these, an estimated 7-10 million are gig workers, dependent on a steady stream of small projects from different clients for survival rather than consistent work with a single employer. At the bottom of this gig work population lies Timee’s workforce.

The platform provides work that requires no interview, no background check and immediate wage