Digital Labour Platforms in Europe: Numbers, Profiles, and Employment Status of Platform Workers

Maria Cesira Urzì Brancati, Annarosa Pesole and Enrique Fernandez Macias ()
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Enrique Fernandez Macias: European Commission - JRC, https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/index_en
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Enrique Fernandez-Macias

No JRC117330, JRC Research Reports from Joint Research Centre

Abstract: This report explores three issues related to the growing phenomenon of Digital Labour Platforms: firstly, how to measure platform work as a form of employment incorporating elements such as regularity of provision, time allocated and income generated; on this basis, and drawing on a new dedicated survey (COLLEEM), the article quantifies and categorises platform work into sporadic, secondary and main. Secondly, it provides an empirical investigation of the association between individual characteristics, such as gender, age, family composition, education and motivation, and the probability of carrying out particular types of platform work, such as microtasking, creative services, software development, transportation and so on. The analysis highlights substantial heterogeneity in the attributes and motivations of the workers performing different tasks. Finally, it discusses the employment status of platform workers and provides some descriptive statistics suggesting that a large share of platform workers perceive themselves as employees, even though they are in most cases legally considered self-employed.

Keywords: platform work; digital labour platform; collaborative economy; gig economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 J21 J40 J48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2019-07
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc117330

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