The structure of gig workers in the global online gig economy by country of origin and its institutional foundations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/EiP.2021.020Keywords
gig workers, platform mediated work, Online Labour Index, institutionsAbstract
Motivation: The online gig economy, where labour is provided via specialized digital platforms, is an important element of the platform economy. This market is developing on a global scale. The structure of supply in the online gig economy and the reasons for the domination of gig workers from specific countries are still the areas remaining relatively under-researched.
Aim: The article aims to examine the supply side of the online gig economy based on the country of origin of gig workers, as well as to explain the reasons why gig workers from specific countries have dominated the sector.
Results: The analysis of the data from the Oxford Internet Institute proved that the supply of online labour services in the global market is dominated by three Asian countries — India, Pakistan, Bangladesh — as well as the USA and the United Kingdom. The preliminary investigation into the determinants of the supply of labour services indicates that the countries under research have developed favorable institutional conditions, such as the universal knowledge of the English language, the right proportion of Internet users to the population size, the large informal sector, and considerable labour freedom.
References
Agrawal, H., & Lacetera, L. (2013). Digitization and the contract labour market: a research agenda. NBER Working Paper, 1952, 1–36. https://doi.org/10.3386/w19525.
Bogenhold, D., Klinglmair, R., & Kandutsch, F. (2017). Solo self-employment, human capital and hybrid labour in the gig economy. Foresight and STI Governance, 11(4), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.17323/2500-2597.2017.4.23.32.
Borjas, G.J. (2020). Labour economics. McGraw Hill.
CIA. (2021). The world factbook. Retrieved 07.02.2021 from https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries.
De Groen, W., & Maselli, I. (2016). The impact of the collaborative Economy on the labour market. CEPS Special Report, 138, 1–35.
De Stefano, V. (2016). The rise of the “just-in-time workforce”: on demand work and the labour protection in the “gig economy”. Retrieved 07.02.2021 from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_443267.pdf.
Difallah, D.E., Catasta, M., Demartini, G., Ipeirotis, P.G., & Cudre-Mauroux, P., (2015). The dynamics of micro-task crowdsourcing: the case of Amazon MTurk. In Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on World Wide Web Committee (pp. 238–247). https://doi.org/10.1145/2736277.2741685.
Farrell, D., & Greig, F (2016). Paychecks, paydays, and the online platform economy: big data on income volatility. Retrieved 20.03.2020 from https://www.jpmorganchase.com/content/dam/jpmc/jpmorgan-chase-and-co/institute/pdf/jpmc-institute-volatility-2-report.pdf.
Florisson, R., & Mandl, I. (2018). Platform work: types and implications for work and employment: literature review. Retrieved 20.03.2020 from https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/wpef18004.pdf.
Graham, M., & Anwar, M.A. (2019). The global gig economy: towards the planetary labour market. First Monday, 24(4). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v24i4.9913.
Horton, J., Kerr, W.R., & Stanton, C. (2017). Digital labour markets and global talent flows. NBER Working Paper, 23398, 1–42. https://doi.org/10.3386/w23398.
Howcroft, D., & Bergvall-Kareborn, B. (2019). A typology of crowdwork platforms. Work, Employment and Society, 33(1), 21–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018760136.
Hunt, A., & Samman, E. (2019). Gender and the gig economy: critical steps for evidence-based policy. Evidence Ideas Change: Working Paper, 546, 1–48.
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. Retrieved 20.03.2020 from https://uhra.herts.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/2299/19922/Huws_U._Spencer_N.H._Syrdal_D.S._Holt_K._2017_.pdf.
ILO. (2018). Women and men in the informal economy: a statistical picture. Retrieved 20.03.2020 from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_626831.pdf.
ILO. (2021a). World employment and social outlook: the role of digital labour platforms in transforming the world of work. Retrieved 20.03.2020 from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_771749.pdf.
ILO. (2021b). Retrieved 27.02.2021 from https://ilostat.ilo.org/topics/wages.
Internet World Stats. (2021). Retrieved 02.02.2021 from https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm.
Ipeirotis, P.G. (2010). Analyzing the Amazon mechanical turk marketplace. XRDS: Crossroads: The ACM Magazine for Students, 17(2), 16–21. https://doi.org/10.1145/1869086.1869094.
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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.056.
Kessler, S. (2018). Gigged: the end of the job and the future of work. St. Martin’s Press.
Kryńska, E., & Kwiatkowski, E. (2013). Podstawy wiedzy o rynku pracy. Uniwersytet Łódzki.
Kuek, S.C., Paradi-Guilford, C., Fayomi T., Imaizumi, S., & Ipeirotis, P. (2015). The global opportunity in online outsourcing. Retrieved 02.02.2021 from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22284.
Lehdonvirta, V. (2017). Where are online workers located: the international division of digital gig work. Retrieved 31.01.2021 from https://ilabour.oii.ox.ac.uk/where-are-online-workers-located-the-international-division-of-digital-gig-work.
Lehdonvirta, V., & Ernkvist, M. (2011). Knowledge map of the virtual economy: converting virtual economy into development potential. Retrieved 02.02.2021 from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/27361.
Miller, T., Kim, A.B., & Roberts, J.M. (2020). Highlights of the index of economic freedom. Retrieved 02.02.2021 from https://www.heritage.org/index/pdf/2020/book/2020_IndexofEconomicFreedom_Highlights.pdf.
Minter, K. (2017). Negotiating labour standards in the gig economy: Airtasker and Unions New South Wales. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 28(3), 438–454. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304617724305.
Ostoj, I. (2017). Inevitable level of labour market in the globalization era. In T. Kliestik (Ed.), Globalization and its socio-economic consequences (pp. 1827–1834). University of Zilina.
Ostoj, I. (2020). Praca w czasach cyfrowych platform technologicznych: w sieci gig economy. Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Katowicach.
Parker, G., van Alstyne, M., & Choudary, S. (2016). Platform revolution: how networked markets are transforming the economy and how to make them work for you. W.W. Norton.
Prassl, J. (2018). Humans as a service. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198797012.001.0001.
Radonjic-Simic, M., & Pfisterer D. (2019). Beyond platform economy: a comprehensive model for decentralized and self-organizing markets on Internet scale. Computers, 8(4), 1–44. https://doi.org/10.3390/computers8040090.
Stanford, J. (2017). The resurgence of gig work: Historical and theoretical perspective. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 28(3), 382–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304617724303.
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. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304617722461.
Strauss, K. (2018). Labour geography I: towards a geography of precarity. Progress in Human Geography, 42(4), 622–630. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132517717786.
UNDP. (2020). Human development report 2020: the next frontier and the Anthropocene. Retrieved 15.03.2021 from http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr2020.pdf.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Izabela Ostoj
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 1836
Number of citations: 0
