Upskilling people who earn income through digital platforms requires more than teaching a single technical skill. Platform work can include online freelancing, professional services, content work, delivery, transport and other location-based services. The skills, risks and protections differ between these forms of work, and reliable regional data remains limited.<\/p>\n
That measurement problem matters. The ILO\u2019s 2026 research brief on digital labour platforms warns that current data sources are still insufficient to accurately estimate the total number of platform workers. Claims about the exact size of the gig economy in MENA should therefore be treated carefully unless the source, country coverage and definition of platform work are explicit.<\/p>\n
Source: ILO, Digital labour platforms: Number of platforms and workers, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The ILO\u2019s 2025 report on digital and AI transformation in Arab labour markets covers Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the State of Palestine, Syria, the UAE and Yemen. It argues that the region\u2019s digital transition can create and enhance jobs, while also creating risks of unequal access to opportunity.<\/p>\n Source: ILO, Navigating the digital and artificial intelligence revolution in Arab labour markets, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n For platform and gig workers, useful skill areas can include:<\/p>\n An ILO research brief published in December 2025 analysed online vacancy data from Egypt, Jordan and the UAE. It found demand for bundles of cognitive, socio-emotional and technical skills rather than one isolated skill type, and noted shifts toward ICT and service-oriented roles.<\/p>\n Source: ILO, Skills dynamics in the Arab region, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Training providers and workforce programmes should therefore start with current market evidence. A programme for online translators, digital marketers, developers and delivery workers should not use the same curriculum simply because all of them work through a platform.<\/p>\n The World Bank\u2019s 2025 Digital Jobs and Skills brief highlights digital skills, access to devices and tools, digital content creation, and risk mitigation as parts of a broader digital-jobs ecosystem. It also emphasises links between education, specialised skills training, innovation hubs and labour-market demand.<\/p>\n Source: World Bank, Digital Jobs and Skills, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n For platform workers, barriers can include:<\/p>\n A technically strong freelancer can still struggle if they cannot scope work, communicate with clients, price appropriately, manage deadlines or document deliverables. Training should therefore combine occupational skill with the capabilities needed to operate independently.<\/p>\n For online professional work, useful practice can include:<\/p>\n The ILO notes that digital labour platforms create income opportunities while also creating challenges around adequate earnings, social security, occupational safety and health, personal data, automated decision-making and employment status.<\/p>\n In June 2026, the International Labour Conference adopted the Decent Work in the Platform Economy Convention, 2026 (No. 193), the first international labour standard dedicated specifically to platform work.<\/p>\n Source: ILO, Convention No. 193 explainer, June 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The Convention does not automatically become binding in every country. It applies through ratification and national implementation. Training programmes should therefore distinguish international standards from current local legal rights.<\/p>\n Employment-status rules vary by jurisdiction and platform model. The ILO Convention calls for status to be determined by the facts of how work is performed and paid, rather than simply by the label in a contract.<\/p>\n Workers should know where to find current national guidance on:<\/p>\n Gig workers may have irregular schedules and cannot always attend long programmes. Modular learning can be useful when each module produces a practical capability that can be applied immediately.<\/p>\n Examples include:<\/p>\n A programme should not claim that training \u201cdoubles employment\u201d or produces a fixed earnings increase unless a credible evaluation supports that claim for a comparable population.<\/p>\n Useful measures can include:<\/p>\n Platform work can create new income pathways, but effective upskilling requires realistic labour-market evidence, practical capability and attention to the conditions under which people actually work.<\/p>\n Evidence-led guide to upskilling gig and platform workers in MENA, covering access, digital capability, worker protections, employability, platform constraints and practical programme design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9186"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10331,"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9186\/revisions\/10331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matsh.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Platform work is growing, but the skills challenge is broader than coding<\/h2>\n
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Skills should be aligned with actual labour demand<\/h2>\n
Digital access is necessary but not sufficient<\/h2>\n
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Upskilling needs to include business and work-management capability<\/h2>\n
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Platform work also raises questions about decent work<\/h2>\n
Do not assume every platform worker is an employee or self-employed<\/h2>\n
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Use short, stackable learning tied to real work<\/h2>\n
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Measure employment outcomes carefully<\/h2>\n
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A practical MENA gig-worker upskilling framework<\/h2>\n
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Related MATSH guides<\/h2>\n
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Sources<\/h2>\n
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