Digitalisation and labour markets in developing countries

Katharina Fietz and Jann Lay

No 335, GIGA Working Papers from GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies

Abstract: Digitalisation has a major impact on labour markets in developing countries. While Internet access expands, digital platforms proliferate and "gig-work" is performed in the Global South, access to and use of digital technologies remains far from universal. As the scope and speed of digitalisation vary across countries and "context matters". The present study reviews the evidence on the effects that selected key aspects of digitalisation on labour markets in developing economies with a focus on digital platforms. Although several studies find considerable effects regarding the employment impacts of digital infrastructures, the evidence on the impacts of digital platforms remains relatively patchy. For example, while transaction data from global online labour platforms demonstrate the important role of the Global South as a supplier on online platforms, we know very little about the extent of work on location-based online platforms. We discuss digital skills to harness digitalisation gains and identify several evidence gaps.

Keywords: Digitalisation; labour markets; employment; digital platforms; digital skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J21 O14 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ict, nep-lma and nep-pay
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:gigawp:335

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