Counting ‘micro-workers’: societal and methodological challenges around new forms of labour

Paola Tubaro, Clément Le Ludec and Antonio Casilli ()
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Clément Le Ludec: I3 SES - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation de Telecom Paris - Télécom Paris - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, SES - Département Sciences Economiques et Sociales - Télécom Paris - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, SID - Sociologie Information-Communication Design - I3 SES - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation de Telecom Paris - Télécom Paris - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Antonio Casilli: I3 SES - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation de Telecom Paris - Télécom Paris - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, SES - Département Sciences Economiques et Sociales - Télécom Paris - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, SID - Sociologie Information-Communication Design - I3 SES - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation de Telecom Paris - Télécom Paris - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: 'Micro-work' consists of fragmented data tasks that myriad providers execute on online platforms. While crucial to the development of data-based technologies, this little visible and geographically spread activity is particularly difficult to measure. To fill this gap, we combined qualitative and quantitative methods (online surveys, in-depth interviews, capture-recapture techniques, and web traffic analytics) to count micro-workers in a single country, France. On the basis of this analysis, we estimate that approximately 260,000 people are registered with micro-work platforms. Of these some 50,000 are 'regular' workers who do micro-tasks at least monthly and we speculate that using a more restrictive measure of 'very active' workers decreases this figure to 15,000. This analysis contributes to research on platform labour and the labour in the digital economy that lies behind artificial intelligence.

Keywords: Micro-work; digital platforms; labour statistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-big and nep-pay
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02898905v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published in Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation, 2020, 14 (1), pp.67-82. ⟨10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0067⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02898905

DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0067

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