Joyce, S orcid.org/0000-0003-0909-9791, Stuart, M orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6496, Forde, C orcid.org/0000-0001-9518-7151 et al. (1 more author) (2019) Work and social protection in the platform economy in Europe. Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations, 25. pp. 153-184. ISSN 0742-6186
Abstract
The chapter presents emerging evidence on the development of the platform economy, paying particular attention to the motivations for entering platform work, the conditions of platform work, and the extent of social protections afforded platform workers. Debate thus far has tended to be highly speculative and lacking in grounded empirical analysis, with policy-makers in particular actively looking to regulate platform work on the basis of its novelty as a form of employment within the wider context of the decline of the “standard employment relationship.” The chapter explores such concerns through an analysis of European Union labor market data and a unique data-set of circa 1,200 online “click workers” across four established platforms. A novel contribution of the analysis is to differentiate between those that only work on platforms (work-dependent platform workers) and those that do such work in addition to another job. The analysis suggests that work-dependent platform workers are more likely to be differentiated by their motivations for doing such work than their experiences of job quality or access to social protections. However, the relationship between platform working and levels of social protection is complex, notably in terms of combined level of social protection and the contractual arrangement of additional job holders. This leaves us to conclude that policy initiatives designed to address gaps in social protections for platform workers would be more appropriately targeted toward problems of insecure work more broadly. Finally, a number of areas for future research are outlined.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited. This is an author produced version of an article published in Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Disruptive technology; Platform economy; Platform work; Social protection; Worker classification; Working conditions |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Work and Employment Relation Division (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 23 Jul 2019 10:53 |
Last Modified: | 02 Feb 2022 17:24 |
Published Version: | https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. |
Identification Number: | 10.1108/S0742-618620190000025009 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:148824 |