Question 1

What is a Living Tariff?

Accepted Answer

For a platform worker, it is clear what the revenue is at the end of a job. It is just not clear what remains of this when you subtract occupational related costs, waiting time and a reserve for sickness and retirement from this amount. With this Living Tariff tool, you calculate what you would need to earn per hour, day, week, month or year to earn a Living Wage.

Question 2

How will a Living Tariff be calculated?

Accepted Answer

The lowest Living Tariff is for India A. (Net Living Wage without work related costs or overheads or social security) Plus B. (Living Wage plus work related cost like laptop or car). Plus C. overhead time like administration, training or waiting time. Plus D. Social security and pension. That total of A+B+C+D makes the minimum Living Tariff. We show the Living Tariff per hour, month and year.Good to know.Living Wage, for salaried workers, and Living Tariff for self-employed and platform workers are not legally binding. Both are ideas to make life more fair. For the Living Tariff, we make the assumption that the self-employed or platform worker needs, as being his/her own boss, to take care for his/her own overhead, pension and able to absorb (financial) risks.. Some might argue that a platform worker doesn't need that. But why should a salaried worker have these rights or a highly educated consultant claim these right with a very high tariff, and the self-employed or platform worker not. In the end, all should work and get paid according to their needs. Therefore, there is a Minimum Living Tariff.

Question 3

What is a Living Wage?

Accepted Answer

A Living Wage is what a worker should get to have a decent life. For India a Living Wage is higher then the legal Minimum Wage. To make sure the life is decent food, transport housing, energy, phone, education for children, health, taxes are included. More information about Living Wages can be found on our website: https://wageindicator.org/salary/living-wage

Question 4

What is a Minimum Wage?

Accepted Answer

The Minimum Wage is what is what a worker/employee at least should get acoording to the National law.

Question 5

What is occupation related cost?

Accepted Answer

Occupational related cost are all the costs you have to incur as a working person to perform a gig. For those who work online a laptop or computer and an internet connection is needed. For those who work in delivery a bike, car, helmet and a phone are needed. Without making these costs, you will not be able to carry out the work. It is seen as fair that a selfemployed or platform worker is compensated for bringing his own "tools and equipment" to the work.

Question 6

What is waiting time?

Accepted Answer

In professions like delivery and taxi, you often have to wait for the next gig / assignment. You are not paid for this time, even though you are available for work. So why shouldn't you be paid for this? This is the reason why, in delivery and taxi, we also include a percentage of waiting time (5 minutes at least) in the calculation of the Living Tariff. Do you believe this percentage is different in your situation? Then you can adjust it on the third page of the Living Tariff tool.

Question 7

What is included in overhead?

Accepted Answer

Since platform workers are managing all the work related activities themselves, they are spending a reasonable time on activities such as:Administration (of work, tasks, schedules)Acquisition and communication (acquiring tasks and work related communication with the user and platform)Training (task related and skill enhancement)Waiting time (between tasks)The Living Tariff Tool estimates the time spent on these "undeclared and unpaid" overhead activities and assigns a monetary amount based on our calculations and assumptions.

Question 8

Why is Living Tariff important?

Accepted Answer

When you are paid per task, it is difficult to get an overview of your actual income. You often have no overview of your hours worked, the costs you incur to perform your work and the provisions you have to take for things like illness and retirement. With Living Tariff, we offer you an overview and you know, as a gig worker, what a minimum rate should be for your profession in order to make a decent living. A Living Tariff will help you to get an overview, on which you can make well informed descisions.

Question 9

Is the Living Tariff perfect?

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff is based on averages applicable to your country. We have also made some assumptions in the calculation, such as waiting times between jobs in delivery and time for administration and acquistion in other occupations. It is impossible to make a perfect calculation, but that has not stopped us from making an educated attempt with the aim of helping you, the working person, understand what you need to earn to have a good life. With the ability to adjust the variables on the third page of this tool, should you believe they are different in your situation.

Question 10

Is a Living Tariff realistic?

Accepted Answer

We realise that in almost all cases, a Living Tariff will be higher than what you earn now by working via a platform. Does this make this unrealistic? No! Because we are convinced that everyone should be able to earn an income to live a normal life. With a Living Tariff, we simply show what you would have to earn to get a decent income in your situation with the work you are carrying out. It is then up to policy makers, unions and platforms to ensure that this actually happens.

Question 11

Can the tool customise for my needs?

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff is based on what is relevant in your country, according to the law, or according to data collection from WageIndicator. You may wish to change certain variables to make the calculation better suit your personal conditions. On the third page of this tool, you have the option to change variables such as pension, health costs, waiting time to suit your personal situation.

Question 12

Does the tool offer adjustments for workers who have dependents or are the sole breadwinners in their families?

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff Tool is based on the Living Wage concept. Under that concept, a typical Indian family has two adults and around 2 children. For the Living Tariff, we assume that one of the two adults is working fulltime hours for India, the other 4 days.Assuming that an other employer pays the income. It is not possible to adjust this in this tool.

Question 13

Can the tool accommodate multiple jobs for gig workers, or do you need to combine all your calculations into one?

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff tool shows you how much you need to earn and work to get a decent life. That can be for one platfrom, or for many. It is not possible to include multiple types of work/occupations within one calculation.

Question 14

When you work as a subscontractor via a platform. Does the Living Tariff applies in that situation?

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff tool applies to anyone paid per gig. Even if you do this work as a subcontractor via someone else's account and still get paid per job, this tool also applies to you.

Question 15

When you do not work via a platform, but do perform work described in this tool. Does the Living Tariff then also apply?

Accepted Answer

Yes, for the calculation of the Living Tariff, it does not matter whether you perform certain work through an online platform or not: after all, the professional-related costs are the same. However, the interpretation of certain variables may be different in your situation. You can easily adjust this on the third page of this tool.

Question 16

How often are the numbers updated to reflect changes in the cost of living?

Accepted Answer

This Living Tariff tool is updated every quarter. If you believe that certain variables are incorrect for your country and situation, please report it in the contact form (down in the page). In addition, you can adjust variables for your calculation on the third page of this Living Tariff tool.

Question 17

Is there a mechanism in the tool that alerts users when the data is outdated or when new updates are available?

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff tool will never be outdated. WageIndicator updates quarterly.

Question 18

Does the tool account for emergency funds, which are essential for financial planning, especially for gig workers with fluctuating incomes?

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff tool does not account for emergency funds in the standard version - page 2 of the tool. In the more customised version - page 3 - the user can add speciall reservations. These reservation are more then what the law in India requires. They are higher then the basic Living Tariff. In general it is very good to do more financial planning being self employed.

Question 19

Does the Living Tariff account for slower months where less work is available?

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff tool assume what is need in a month or year. This assumes an average of one year. This basically means that extra financial planning is needed.

Question 20

Why is the reservation for medical costs so low, especially considering the typically high costs of medical insurance?

Accepted Answer

If there is a low reservation for medical cost, it relates to that there is free access to the health system. Only some small items as pills against headache are then involved.

Question 21

Is there a provision for dental or other specialized healthcare?

Accepted Answer

No, there is not a provision for dental or other specialized healthcare included.

Question 22

Are the housing costs based on single or family accommodations?

Accepted Answer

In the Living Tariff tool the costs of housing is based on a 3 bedroom appartment, and two adults working.

Question 23

How are transport costs estimated?

Accepted Answer

Transport cost for delivery is based on averages. Transport for selfemployed and platform workers who work from home or a small office is calcuated on the basis of commuting cost.

Question 24

Are work-related costs for equipment one-time or recurring?

Accepted Answer

Work-related costs are ruccuring cost. We assume that either a laptop, a phone or bike needs to be repaired and a new/second hand needs to be bought.

Question 25

Do they account for repairs or maintenance?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The work related costs do account for repair and maintenance of equipment. There is always the option to adapt it to your situation.

Question 26

What kind of employee is used as a basis of comparison for the Living Tariff? Is this based on a median wage, an entry-level wage, or some other measure?

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff has as a basis the minimum what is needed to have a decent Life. It is based on cost of living, not on education or performence level.

Question 27

What are the assumed working hours for the "full-time" calculation mentioned in the statement?

Accepted Answer

The assumed full-time weeekly working hours for India are 48 per week.

Question 28

How adaptable is the Living Tariff to economic changes like inflation or recession?

Accepted Answer

Since the cost of living / Living Wage and therefore the Living Tariff will be updated quarterly, the tool is resilient to inflation.

Question 29

Is the tool available in multiple languages?

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff tool is now availeble in India in English. In the coming phase, the tool will be available in more countries. Follow this page: https://wageindicator.org/salary/living-wage/living-tariff-7

Question 30

In India each states has its own number of public holidays, how does the tool deal with this?

Accepted Answer

On average an Indian state has 22 public holidays. The Indian Living Tariff tool can show detailed cost of living per state, but not yet the holiday (festifal) days. If you want to know this precise, please check this list, and adapt in page three of the tool. State Number of public Holidays Andaman and Nicobar 16 Andhra Pradesh 23 Arunachal Pradesh 17 Assam 36 Bihar 20 Central 17 Chandigarh 17 Chhattisgarh 16 Dadra Nagar Haveli & Diu Daman 17 Delhi 18 Goa 18 Gujarat 21 Haryana 20 Himachal Pradesh 24 Jammu and Kashmir 29 Jharkhand 21 Karnataka 21 Kerala 20 Lakshadweep 17 Madhya Pradesh 23 Maharashtra 23 Manipur 29 Meghalaya 23 Mizoram 26 Nagaland 16 Odisha 30 Puducherry 16 Punjab 31 Rajasthan 31 Sikkim 20 Tamil Nadu 24 Telangana 27 Tripura 22 Uttar Pradesh 24 Uttarakhand 25 West Bengal 21 Average No of Holidays 22

Question 31

Disclaimer

Accepted Answer

The Living Tariff Tool is an indication of the minimum tariff required to have a decent life. It is based upon data carefully collected by WageIndicator Foundation. We use our best efforts to keep our tool up to date and accurate, but we cannot guarantee that our info is always correct or suitable for your specific situation. WageIndicator cannot be held liable for the con use of the minimum Living Tariff Tool.

FAQ - Living Tariff