Protecting Workers in Digital Supply Chains
Mekhla Jha, Inclusive Trade Specialist at the World Economic Forum, shares a teaser of insights from our joint case study with the WEF and Africa Practice. Building on extensive interviews and an in-country workshop, she explores the promise and precarity of Kenya's digital transition for trade and labour.
The digital revolution’s double-edged sword
More jobs. Less security. Faster growth. Fewer protections. The digital revolution promises opportunity, but it also tests how societies value work and workers. Today, digitally delivered services account for 54% of global services exports[i], while corporate investment in AI has surged to USD 252 billion in 2024, a thirteen-fold increase over the past decade[ii]. While it generates new economic opportunities, it also amplifies labour precarity. Many digital jobs, especially in developing countries, exist outside formal protections, with workers facing unstable incomes, limited rights, and growing exposure to automation risks.
This is not just a technological transition; it’s a social and labour transition. The way societies govern this shift will determine whether the digital economy becomes a driver of inclusion or inequality. Kenya offers valuable lessons on how countries can harness digital growth while protecting workers. To better understand this transition, the Trade and Labour Programme, jointly run by the TASC Platform and the World Economic Forum, conducted a case study in Kenya in collaboration with Africa Practice drawing on insights from over 40 stakeholders across government, business, labour unions, and civil society.
Kenya’s digital economy: Promise and precarity
Kenya’s digital economy is projected to contribute 9.24% of GDP by 2025[iii], with 1.9 million[iv] people employed in digital jobs, including 1.2 million[v] gig workers. The country has attracted investments in AI, e-commerce, and outsourcing, fuelled by its young workforce and growing tech ecosystem. At the same time, challenges persist for workers.
Unequal Access to Jobs
Despite rapid digital growth, access remains highly unequal. High costs of internet and devices prevent many, especially in rural areas, from entering the digital workforce. Only 37% of Kenyans have internet access[vi], and power outages further limit productivity outside major cities.
Skills gaps are another major barrier. Kenya’s education system lags behind the needs of the AI-driven economy, with just 25% of students enrolled in STEM fields at the bachelor’s degree level[vii]. Women face compounded challenges due to caregiving burdens, safety concerns, and social norms that discourage participation in digital spaces.
Working Conditions and Legal Gaps
Most digital workers are classified as independent contractors, excluding them from labour rights afforded to employees like minimum wage, leave, or occupational safety standards. A typical microtask worker earns about KES 125 per hour below the minimum wage of KES 135.9[viii] (for general labourers in urban areas). Payment delays, arbitrary deactivations, and opaque algorithm-driven management are widespread. Mental health risks are rising, especially in content moderation roles, where workers are exposed to graphic content without adequate support. Kenya’s labour laws, designed in 2007 for traditional employment, not unlike labour regulation in the rest of the world, fail to account for the realities of gig and remote platform work.
Automation and AI Risks
AI-driven automation poses an existential risk to large swaths of Kenya’s digital workforce. An estimated 52% of jobs are susceptible to automation[ix], particularly roles in data entry, transcription, and customer service. While Kenya’s National AI Strategy recognizes these risks, concrete reskilling programs, algorithmic accountability measures, or social safety nets for displaced workers need to be strengthened.
Policy and business responses: Progress and gaps
Kenya is taking important steps. Ongoing labour law reform discussions aim to extend protections to gig workers. The 2025 National BPO Policy proposes developing a “Decent Work Toolkit” for the outsourcing sector[x]. Investments in digital hubs and programs like Ajira Digital and Jitume Labs aim to bridge the digital skills gap.
However, gig workers continue to operate outside formal protections as legal reforms are discussed with all stakeholders. Regional and bilateral trade agreements mention labour rights broadly but lack provisions tailored to digital and platform workers. Similarly, Kenya’s AI governance frameworks lack implementation plans to safeguard workers from algorithmic harms or displacement.
Some businesses are stepping up. Glovo’s Couriers Pledge includes voluntary commitments on fair wages, safety, and grievance mechanisms to couriers irrespective of their employment status. Similarly, Britam Connect[xi] offers embedded insurance to gig workers via small per-transaction payments.
Yet these efforts remain voluntary and fragmented in the absence of sector-wide standards.
Global lessons: Towards ethical AI and fair digital trade
The recommendations that came out of our stakeholder consultation in Kenya may offer lessons for the global digital economy. First, updating labour laws is essential. Kenya is exploring models that extend core protections like minimum wages, social security, and algorithmic accountability to digital workers without undermining flexibility. This includes functional approaches based on economic dependency, alongside expanding health and safety rules to remote and platform-based work.
Second, the creation of Decent Work Toolkits for the BPO sector and platform economy could offer practical guidance on fair pay standards, mental health safeguards, transparent algorithms, ethical contracting, and grievance procedures, as well as retraining and upskilling avenues for workers, co-developed with businesses and worker associations. Such a toolkit could improve working conditions while enhancing Kenya’s global competitiveness.
Third, Kenya must leverage its role in the East African Community and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to promote common labour standards - ensuring fair pay, dispute resolution, and workplace protections are part of regional and continental digital policies. This ensures that cross-border digital trade promotes decent work rather than driving a race to the bottom. Kenya’s efforts can also help align digital investment promotion strategies with upholding worker protections while driving growth and employment.
These approaches are as relevant globally as they are locally. They offer a roadmap for embedding labour protections, domestic regulations and business practices, and highlight the importance of trade and investment policies in sustaining these protections across borders, particularly in sub-sectors where services, profits, and risks flow across countries.
Kenya’s experience also highlights the importance of worker voice in shaping fair digital economies. In 2023, platform workers came together to form the Kenyan Union of Global Workers (KUGWO), now affiliated with the national labour federation COTU-K. This marks a significant step in ensuring that workers are not just subjects of policy but active participants in its design both nationally and in emerging global conversations on platform work.
A call to action: From Kenya to the world
The digital transition will define the future of work. If left unchecked, it risks deepening inequality. But it also offers an opportunity to build fairer, more inclusive and prosperous economies. Kenya is taking meaningful steps - revising labour laws, expanding digital infrastructure and skilling programmes, and engaging with the private sector - but progress must accelerate.
A key lesson from Kenya is the power of multistakeholder dialogue. Meaningful progress depends on governments, businesses, workers, unions, and civil society coming together to co-design solutions that balance flexibility, innovation, and fairness. This approach ensures that policies are grounded in lived realities, practical for businesses, and protective of workers.
As global forums like the AI for Good Summit convene, Kenya’s message to the world is clear: technology must serve people, not the other way around. The challenge ahead is not just about driving digital growth but about aligning it with social protection, decent work, and human dignity.
This case study is part of the TASC Platform’s ongoing Trade and Labour initiative, developed in partnership with the World Economic Forum and supported by the Laudes Foundation.
References
[i] Digital Trade for Development, The International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations, The World Bank and the World Trade Organization: https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/dtd2023_e.pdf
[ii] Nestor Maslej et al, “The AI Index 2025 Annual Report,” AI Index Steering Committee, Institute for Human-Centered AI, Stanford University, April 2025, p. 246, https://hai-production.s3.amazonaws.com/files/hai_ai_index_report_2025.pdf
[iii] Kenya commercial country guide, International Trade Administration: https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/kenya-information-communications-and-technology-ict
[iv] Social dialogue promotes decent work in Kenya’s digital economy, ILO: https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/social-dialogue-promotes-decent-work-kenyas-digital-economy
[v] Working Without Borders: The Promise and Peril of Online Gig Work, World Bank: https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099011724092026769/pdf/P1773021669c080021bb971499c18a61008.pdf
[vi] Artificial Intelligence in Kenya, Paradigm Initiative : https://paradigmhq.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Artificial-Inteligence-in-Kenya-1.pdf
[vii] Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Kenya, UNESCO: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386938
[viii] Digital labour platforms in Kenya, ILO PROSPECTS: https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2025-04/ILOP-Digital-Labour-Kenya-v6_0.pdf
[ix] The Future of Jobs and Skills in Africa: Preparing the Region for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, World Economic Forum: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_EGW_FOJ_Africa.pdf
[x] National Policy on Business Process Outsourcing, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection: https://admin.kepsa.or.ke/public/files/docs/17320186772.pdf
[xi] Britam Connect to Revolutionize Insurance for Low-Income Households: https://ke.britam.com/newsroom/britam-connect-to-revolutionize-insurance-for-low-income-households-gig-workers-and-small-businesses