The Guardian (25.06.2018) A group of Hermes couriers have won their fight to be treated as workers instead of independent contractors in what has been described as one of the most significant victories against exploitation of gig-economy workers.

Articles on Platform Economy

ceps.eu (31.10.2017) The partnership between delivery platform Deliveroo and workers’ cooperative SMart has been terminated, sparking new debate over workers’ rights in the platform economy.

The collaborative economy (or “platform economy”), encompassing work-on-demand via apps like Uber and crowdwork like Amazon Mechanical Turk, has grown exponentially in recent years, thanks to the development of high-speed networks, the exploitation of big data and the availability of mobile devices, which have cut down transaction costs and allow for real-time effective matching of supply and demand.

European Parliament (Dec 2017)  This study investigates the social protection of workers in the platform economy at the request of the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee. The report reviews literature and previous research on the platform economy with the aims of defining it and developing a typology for understanding its nature.

IMF F&D Magazine  (June 2018) Digital platforms are recasting the relationships between customers, workers, and employers as the silicon chip’s reach permeates almost everything we do—from buying groceries online to finding a partner on a dating website. As computing power improves dramatically and more and more people around the world participate in the digital economy, we should think carefully about how to devise policies that will allow us to fully exploit the digital revolution’s benefits while minimizing job dislocation.

Le Monde (14.06.2018) Un amendement dans la loi Pénicaud 2 va créer des chartes et des droits pour améliorer la couverture sociale des personnes employées par des plates-formes numériques.

rtve.es (04.06.2018) Un tribunal considera "falsos autónomos" a los repartidores de Deliveroo y condena a la empresa por despido improcedente.

The New York Times (07.06.2018) You can see the gig economy everywhere but in the statistics. For years, economists, pundits and policymakers have grappled with the rise of Uber, the growth of temporary work and the fissuring of the relationship between companies and their workers. Optimists cheered the flexibility offered by the freelance life. Pessimists fretted about the disappearance of traditional jobs, with the benefits and legal protections they provided.

RTVE (04.06.2018) El Supremo avala la limitación de una licencia VTC por cada 30 de taxis.El Tribunal argumenta que es la "forma de garantizar el equilibrio" en el transporte Anula la obligación de que Uber y Unauto tengan una flota de al menos 7 vehículosEl Tribunal Supremo ha avalado este lunes la limitación de una licencia de vehículos de alquiler con conductor (VTC) por cada 30 de taxis, vigente desde 2015, siempre que sean necesarias y proporcionadas.

NCBI (April 2018) The present study aimed to explore using popular technology that people already have/use as a health promotion tool, in a campus wide social media health promotion initiative, entitled #LancerHealth. During a two-week period the university community was asked to share photos on Twitter and Instagram of What does being healthy on campus look like to you?, while tagging the image with #LancerHealth.

LesAffaires.com (15.05.2018) «Depuis cinq ans, les économies dites avancées discutent de la meilleure façon de s’adapter au nouveau monde du travail. Celui du travail non structuré. On ne fait rien, on attend les données. Vouloir connaître le nombre de travailleurs de l’économie de plateforme équivaut à tenter de capturer le vent dans un filet!» Joachim Breuer, président, Association internationale de la sécurité sociale (ISSA).

The Guardian (23.05.2018) Workers across Europe, including 70,000 in UK, to be offered pay protections under new insurance policy The ride-hailing service said a new insurance policy, to be provided free to its drivers, would give them “peace of mind while preserving the flexibility they value”.

PerthNow (14.05.2018) Ride-sharing giant Uber and online platforms like food delivery app Deliveroo will face government regulation to protect workers’ rights, Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston has vowed. Mr Johnston said players in the so-called gig economy were guilty of “driving wages down and reducing benefits for workers”, and predicted government regulation was inevitable. The WA Government is now considering whether the sector needs to be brought under the State’s industrial relations system.

EurActiv (17.05.2018) Freedom of services belongs to the four freedoms of the EU. Austria wants to fight its abuse with the help of digitisation. EURACTIV Germany reports from Vienna. The fight against “social fraud, in particular organised illegal work” is one of the main tasks laid down in the work program of the Austrian government. Of course, this is not just an issue that concerns Austria. In fact, in this case, the EU is challenged to lay the foundations for intergovernmental data exchange.

OECD (June 2016) This paper was prepared as a contribution to the background report of Panel 4.1 “New Market and New Jobs” of the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Digital Economy, 21-23 June 2016, Cancún (Mexico). It provides new evidence on the development of online platform markets, discusses opportunities and challenges of new forms of work in platform service markets, developments of non-standard work in OECD countries, and policy issues related to new forms of work.

(Oct 2017) The biennial OECD Digital Economy Outlook examines and documents evolutions and emerging opportunities and challenges in the digital economy. It highlights how OECD countries and partner economies are taking advantage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the Internet to meet their public policy objectives.

McKinsey & Company (Oct 2016) The McKinsey Global Institute examines all the ways people are earning income, as well as the challenges independent work presents.

En Latinoamérica, la productividad ha sido identificada en numerosos estudios como una de las principales barreras hacia el desarrollo. La economía digital, y en concreto el ecosistema de nuevas aplicaciones y servicios digitales, puede propiciar un impacto transversal sobre los distintos sectores económicos, con importantes mejoras productivas de eficiencia y de acceso sobre los servicios ofrecidos.

Le Monde (09.05.2018) La protection sociale des travailleurs « ubérisés » va-t-elle s’améliorer ? Tel est, en tout cas, l’objectif affiché par le gouvernement et par plusieurs députés de la majorité qui veulent ajouter des mesures allant dans ce sens dans le projet de loi « avenir professionnel », examiné à ­l’Assemblée nationale à partir de la fin mai.

Les Echos (03.05.2018) En s’appuyant sur la technologie, les assureurs santé cherchent à prévenir les risques et réduire les coûts de traitement tout en repensant leur relation client. Le secteur de la santé est l'un des trois piliers de l'industrie de l'assurance, avec 1 400 milliards de dollars de primes d'assurance en 2017 selon McKinsey. Les dépenses publiques de santé et de soins devraient quant à elles passer à 14 % dans les pays de l'OCDE d'ici 2060 (contre environ 6 % aujourd'hui) selon les prévisions de l'OCDE.

ilo.org (20.09.2018) This report provides one of the first comparative studies of working conditions on five major micro-task platforms that operate globally.

ECLAC (August 2017) Digital work platforms are transforming labor markets around the world. Firms that own, manage and deploy these work platforms have reframed employer–worker relations by defining their core business as the provision of the technology that enables certain services to be provided rather than the provision of those services, and offering their workers independent contractor arrangements rather than employee contracts. This has significant consequences in terms of wages, jobs security and other working conditions.

sdg.iisd.org/news (12.04.2018) The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has updated its Social Protection Toolbox, an online platform for policy makers to share experiences and good practices in providing healthcare and income security. The refreshed platform offers over 100 examples of good practices from around the world, and users can apply an online assessment tool to identify gaps in social protection coverage by country and population group.