Precariousness in Employment Mediated by Digital Platforms. Evidence from Europe
- María Isabel de Andres 1
- Emilio Congregado 2
- Concepción Román 2
-
1
Universidad Internacional de Andalucía
info
-
2
Universidad de Huelva
info
ISSN: 1576-0162
Year of publication: 2024
Issue: 66
Pages: 129-149
Type: Article
More publications in: Revista de economía mundial
Abstract
¿Es la precariedad una característica inherente al empleo mediado por plataformas digitales u obedece a otras causas? Utilizando la primera oleada de la Encuesta Europea sobre Economía Colaborativa y Empleo (COLLEEM, en adelante), este trabajo identifica los empleos precarios en plataformas mediante diferentes operacionalizaciones de este fenómeno. Nuestros resultados indican que i) la probabilidad de encontrarse en situación de precariedad en el empleo bajo demanda varía según el tipo de empleo y ciertas características sociodemográficas; ii) los hallazgos son sensibles a la dimensión de precariedad que consideremos; y iii) los trabajadores autónomos y aquellos que acceden a empleos en plataformas digitales como último recurso tienen una percepción más positiva de las condiciones laborales en el sector que los empleados asalariados y aquellos cuya razón de ingreso no fue la falta de empleo alternativo. El estudio proporciona pautas para el diseño efectivo de políticas de mitigación orientadas a proteger a los trabajadores en el mercado laboral digitalizado de la UE.
Bibliographic References
- Abraham, K., Haltiwanger, J., Sandusky, K., & Spletzer, J (2017). Measuring the gig Economy: Current knowledge and Open Issues. Measuring and Accounting for Innovation in the 21st Century. NBER Working Papers Series, Working Paper 24950
- Acosta, J., Osorno, M.D.P., Rodríguez, O.M. (2018). Underemployment and Employment among Young Workers and the Business Cycle in Spain: the Importance of Education Level and Specialization. Journal of Education and Work, 31(1), 28–46.
- Aloisi, A. (2022) Platform Work in Europe: Lessons Learned, Legal Developments and Challenges Ahead. European Labour Law Journal, 13(1): 4-29.
- Amuedo-Dorantes, C. (2000). Work Transitions into and out of Involuntary Temporary Employment in a Segmented Market: Evidence from Spain. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 53(2), 309-325.
- Arranz, J.M., García-Serrano, C., & Hernanz, V. (2018). Employment Quality: Are there Differences by Types of Contract?. Social Indicators Research, 137(1), 203-230.
- Attewell, P., Witteveen D. (2023). Occupational Marginalization, Underemployment, and Earnings Inequality among College Graduates. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 83, 00761.
- Bell, D.N.F., & Blanchflower D.G. (2013). How to Measure Underemployment? (No. WP13-7). Peterson Institute for International Economics.
- Bell, D.N.F., & Blanchflower D.G. (2018). Underemployment in the US and Europe (No. w24927). National Bureau of Economic Research.
- Bell, D.N.F., & Blanchflower D.G. (2019). The Well-Being of the Overemployed and the Underemployed and the Rise in Depression in the UK. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 161, 180-196.
- Berg, J., & Rani, U. (2018). Digital Labour Platforms and the Future of Work: Towards Decent Work in the Online World. Geneva: International Labour Organization.
- Borowczyk-Martins, D., & Lalé, E. (2020). The Ins and Outs of Involuntary PartTime Employment. Labour Economics, 67: 101940.
- Bogliacino F., Codagnone C., Cirillo V., & Guarascio, D. (2020). Quantity and Quality of Work in the Platform Economy. In Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics, edited by K. Zimmermann. Champ.: Springer.
- Büchteman, C.F., & Quack, S. (1990). How Precarious is ‘Non-Standard’ Employment? Evidence for West Germany. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 14(3): 315-329
- Brancati, M.C., Pesole, A., & Fernandez Macias, E. (2019). Digital Labour Platforms in Europe: Numbers, profiles, and employment status of platform workers (No. JRC117330). Joint Research Centre.
- Brancati, U., Pesole, A., & Fernández-Macías, E. (2020). New Evidence on Platform Workers in Europe. Results from the Second COLLEEM survey. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
- Congregado, E., de Andrés, M.I., & Roman, C. (2019). Explorando la heterogeneidad en el empleo mediado por plataformas digitales: Intensidad y localización. Revista de Economía Laboral, 16(2): 69-103.
- Congregado, E., de Andrés, M.I., Nolan, E, & Roman, C, (2022). Heterogeneity Among Self-employed Digital Platform Workers. Evidence from Europe. International Review of Entrepreneurship, 20(1): 45-67.
- Congregado, E., Garcia-Clemente, J., Rubino, N., & Vilchez, I. (2024). Testing Hysteresis for the US and UK Involuntary Part-Time Employment. Applied Economics, 1-21.
- De Groen, W.P., Kilhoffer, Z., Lenaerts, K., & Salez, N (2017). The Impact of the Platform Economy on Job Creation. Intereconomics, 52(6): 345-351.
- De Stefano, V. (2016). The Rise of the Just-in Time Workforce: On Demand Work, Crowdwork, and Labor Protection in the Gig Economy. Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal, 37(3): 461-471.
- De Stefano, V., & Aloisi, A. (2019). Fundamental Labour Rights, Platform Work and Human Rights Protection of Non-Standard Workers. In Research Handbook on Labour, Business and Human Rights Law. Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Drahokoupil, J., & Piasna, A. (2017). Work in the Platform Economy: Beyond Lower Transaction Costs. Intereconomics 52: 335–340. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10272-017-0700-9
- Fabo, B., Karanovic, J., & Dukova, K. (2017). In Search of an Adequate European Policy Response to the Platform Economy. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 23(2): 163-175.
- Feldman, D.C. (1996). The Nature, Antecedents and Consequences of Underemployment. Journal of Management, 22: 385–407.
- Findeis, J.L., Jensen, L., & Wang, Q. (2000). Underemployment Prevalence and Transitions in the US Nonmetropolitan South. Southern Rural Sociology, 16: 125-147.
- García-Pérez, C., Prieto-Alaiz, M., & Simón, H. (2020). Multidimensional Measurement of Precarious Employment Using Hedonic Weights: Evidence from Spain. Journal of Business Research, 113: 348-359,
- Graham, M., Hjorth, I., & Lehdonvirta, V. (2017). Digital Labour and Development: Impacts of Global Digital Labour Platforms and the Gig Economy on Worker Livelihoods. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 23(2), 135–162.
- Hussmanns, R., Mehran, F., & Verma, V. (1990). Surveys of Economically Active Population, Employment, Unemployment, and Underemployment: an ILO Manual on Concepts and Methods. Geneve: International Labour Organization.
- Huws, U., Spencer, N.H., Syrdal, D.S., Holts, K. (2017). Work in the European gig Economy: Research Results from the UK, Sweden, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy. FEPS – Foundation for European Progressive Studies.
- Huws, U., Spencer, N.H., Coates, M., & Holts, K. (2019). The Platformisation Of Work In Europe: Highlights from Research in 13 European Countries. Foundation for European Progressive Studies, July.
- Kalleberg, A.L. (2009). Precarious Work, Insecure Workers: Employment Relations in Transition. American Sociological Review, 74(1): 1-22.
- Kässi, O., & Lehdonvirta, V. (2018). Online Labour Index: Measuring the Online Gig Economy for Policy and Research. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 137: 241-248.
- Kauhanen, M., & Nätti, J. (2015). Involuntary Temporary and Part-Time Work, Job Quality and Well-Being at Work. Social Indicators Research, 120(3): 783-799.
- Kenney, M., & Zysman, J. (2016). The Rise of the Platform Economy. Issues in Science and Technology, 32(3): 61-69.
- Kilhoffer, Z., De Groen, W.P., Lenaerts, K., Smits, I., Hauben, H., Waeyaert, W., Giacumacatos, E., Lhernould, J.P., & Robin-Olivier, S. (2020). Study to Gather Evidence on the Working Conditions of Platform Workers, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.
- Kilhoffer, Z. (2021). State-of-the art. Data on the Platform Economy, Deliverable n°12.3, Leuven, InGRID-2 project 730998 – H2020.
- Koutsimpogiorgos, N., Van Slageren, J., Herrmann, A.M., Frenken, K. (2020). Conceptualizing the Gig Economy and Its Regulatory Problems. Policy & Internet, 12(4): 525-545.
- Kretsos, L., & Livanos, I. (2016). The Extent and Determinants of Precarious Employment in Europe. International Journal of Manpower, 37(1): 25-43.
- Kuhn, K.M., & Maleki, A. (2017). Micro-entrepreneurs, Dependent Contractors, and Instaserfs: Understanding Online Labor Platform Workforces. Academy of Management Perspectives, 31(3):183-200.
- Larsson, A., & Teigland, R. (2020). The Digital Transformation of Labor. London: Taylor & Francis.
- Lehdonvirta, V. (2018). Flexibility in the Gig Economy: Managing Time on Three Online Piecework Platforms. New Technology, Work and Employment, 33(1): 13–29.
- Lepanjuuri, K., Wishart, R., & Cornick, P. (2018). The Characteristics of those in the Gig Economy. UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
- Malo, M.A. (2018). Nuevas formas de empleo: del empleo atípico a las plataformas digitales. Papeles de Economía Española, 156:146-158.
- Maynard, D.C., & Feldman, D.C. (Eds.) (2011). Underemployment: Psychological, Economic, and Social Challenges. Springer Science & Business Media.
- McKee-Ryan, F.M., & Harvey, J. (2011). I Have a Job, but...: A Review of Underemployment. Journal of Management, 37(4):962-996
- Monastiriotis, V., & Laliotis, I. (2020). Labour Market Vulnerability and Labour Market Outcomes during the Economic Upswing, KE 0419795 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2020.
- Montgomery, T., & Baglioni, S. (2020). Defining the Gig Economy: Platform Capitalism and the Reinvention of Precarious work. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 48(4): 597-600.
- O’Farrell, R., Montagnier, P. (2020). Measuring Digital Platform-Mediated Workers. New Technology, Work and Employment, 35(1): 130-144.
- Olsthoorn, M. (2014). Measuring Precarious Employment: A Proposal for Two Indicators of Precarious Employment Based on Set-Theory and Tested with Dutch Labor Market-Data. Social Indicators Research, 119(1): 421-441.
- Pantea, S. (2021). Self-Employment In The EU: Quality Work, Precarious Work Or Both?. Small Business Economics, 57(1): 243-263.
- Pesole, A., Brancati, U., Fernández-Macías, E., Biagi, F., & Gonzalez-Vazquez, I. (2018) Platform Workers in Europe. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
- Pesole, A., Fernandez-Macias, E., Brancati, C.U., & Herrera, E.G. (2019). How to Quantify what is not Seen? Two Proposals for Measuring Platform Work (No. 2019/01). JRC Working Papers Series on Labour, Education and Technology.
- Piasna, A. (2021). Measuring the Platform Economy: Different Approaches to Estimating the Size of the Online Platform Workforce. A Modern Guide To Labour and the Platform Economy, 66-80.
- Rodgers, G., & Rodgers, J. (1989). Precarious Jobs in Labour Market Regulation. The Growth of Atypical Employment in Western Europe, Genève: International Labor Organization.
- Román, C., Congregado, E., & Millán, J.M. (2011). Dependent Self-Employment as a Way to Evade Employment Protection Legislation. Small Business Economics, 37(3): 363-392.
- Schor, J.B., Attwood-Charles, W., Cansoy, M., Ladegaard, I., & Wengronowitz, R. (2020). Dependence and Precarity in the Platform Economy. Theory and Society, 49(5): 833-861.
- Stanford, J. (2017). The Resurgence of Gig Work: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 28(3): 382-401.
- Stewart, A.., & Stanford, J. (2017). Regulating Work in the Gig Economy: What Are the Options? The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 28(3): 420- 437.
- Tam, H. (2010). Characteristics of the Underemployed and the Overemployed in the UK. Economic & Labour Market Review, 4(7): 8-20.
- Todolí-Signes, A. (2017). The ‘Gig Economy’: Employee, Self-Employed or the Need for a Special Employment Regulation? Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 23(2): 193-205.
- Valletta, R.G., Bengali, L., & Van der List, C. (2020). Cyclical and Market Determinants of Involuntary Part-Time Employment. Journal of Labor Economics, 38(1): 67-93.
- Vosko, L. (2006). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity in Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
- Vosko, L,. Macdonald, M., Cambell, I. (Eds) (2010). Gender and the Countours of Precarious Employment. London and New York, NY: Routledge.
- Webster, J. (2016). Microworkers of the Gig Economy: Separate and Precarious. New Labor Forum 25(3): 56-64.
- Weststar, J. (2009). Worker Control as a Facilitator in the Match Between Education and Jobs. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 47(4): 723-740.
- Weststar, J. (2011). A Review of Women’s Experiences of Three Dimensions of Underemployment. In Underemployment, edited by Maynard D. and D. Feldman, 105-125. Springer, New York, NY.