The ongoing digital transformation of economies and societies holds many promises to spur innovation, generate efficiencies, and improve services, and in doing so boost more inclusive and sustainable growth as well as enhance well-being. But these benefits go hand-in-hand with disruptions. Our interactions with one another and with society more broadly are being transformed, as are the nature and structure of organisations and markets, raising important issues around jobs and skills, privacy, security, and how to ensure that technological changes benefit society as a whole, among others.

Un statut spécial moins contraignant est débattu au Parlement français pour les collaborateurs de plate forme.

europa (27.06.2018) The Commission is publishing today a report on digital platform workers in Europe. The report provides evidence on this emerging phenomenon based on a survey of over 32 000 people across 14 Member States. This helps to estimate the size of platform work, outline the main characteristics of platform workers, learn about their working conditions and motivations, and describe the type of services provided through digital labour platforms.

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.