Description du projet
Comment faire en sorte qu’une «économie des petits boulots» fonctionne pour les travailleurs?
Le marché du travail moderne évolue en ligne. Numérisation et connectivité modifient la relation au travail et favorisent l’émergence d’une «économie des petits boulots». Par exemple, les travailleurs sont engagés via des plateformes en ligne pour effectuer un service unique, un «petit boulot». Mais comment ces pratiques ont-elles pu prendre une telle importance dans le marché du travail? À l’évidence, les travaux exécutés en ligne (les tâches à accomplir sur ordinateur comme la programmation, l’édition et la traduction) constituent le premier marché du travail international. Dans ce contexte, le projet www.WORK financé par l’UE, étudiera ce qui se passe lorsque des travailleurs indépendants proposent des services à des tarifs peu élevés qui ne permettent pas de bénéficier d’une assurance maladie ou de se constituer une retraite. Plus précisément, il développera un nouveau paradigme dans la recherche institutionnelle sur les marchés en ligne.
Objectif
The 'gig economy', where workers are hired through internet platforms to complete a one-time service task (a 'gig'), is growing into a major labour market. Yet, we still lack a theory of how it develops. Its online part, including tasks to be completed at the computer (e.g. programming or translations), constitutes the first truly global labour market. Faced with unprecedented competition, most gig workers offer their services at low rates that do not allow for insurances or building up pensions. Several governments therefore consider making social security contributions compulsory. But can regulation at the national level protect workers in online markets, or will the demand for online gigs simply relocate to low-wage, low-protection economies?
Based on an interdisciplinary framework of theories on varieties-of-capitalism, innovation systems, and entrepreneurial ecosystems, I propose a new institutional theory on ‘mirror-image specialization’: I hypothesize that education and labour-market institutions lead requesters, platforms, and providers of online gig work to specialize in hiring, transacting, and offering those skills that are least available in their home labour markets. This leads to specialization patterns in a country’s online gig economy opposite to those in its traditional labour market. If this is the case, my theory breaks ground for a new paradigm in institutional research of online markets and indicates that national policy-making can protect gig workers without risking the relocation of gig demand.
To enable this theoretical high-risk/high-gain contribution, I will go beyond the empirical state-of-the-art of single-platform studies by collecting novel, large-N data on gig requesters (WP1), platforms (WP2), and gig providers (WP3). Using quantitative and qualitative methods, I will go beyond the analytical state-of-the-art of one-time studies and analyse panel and time-stamped data to gain over-time insights into how the online gig economy unfolds.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régime de financement
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Institution d’accueil
6525 XZ Nijmegen
Pays-Bas