OECD (18.09.2018) The risk of job automation is much higher in some regions than others within countries, meaning governments will need to address any widening of job inequality between one area and another in the coming years, according to a new OECD report.

The World Bank (01.08.2018) Will the revolution in digital and information technologies make us obsolete? Will jobs be lost and never replaced? Will wages drop to intolerable levels? History and economic theory and evidence suggest that in the long term, such fears are misplaced. However, in the short and medium term, dislocation can be severe for certain types of work, places, and populations. In the transition period, policies are needed to facilitate labor market flexibility and mobility, introduce and strengthen safety nets and social protection, and improve education and training.

euractiv.com (03.07.2018) Self-employment is becoming more diversified in Europe and covers an increasing number of activities. But this small revolution raises issues when it comes to social protection.

blogs.worldbank.org (13.07.2018) Technology and what it will do to change how we work is the driving obsession of the moment. The truth is that nobody knows for sure what will happen – the only certainty is uncertainty. How then should we plan for the jobs that don’t yet exist?

marketwatch.com (04.08.2018) The company, called Trupo, is launching a new short-term disability insurance product. A broken leg can spell financial disaster for a freelancer.

 Euronews (01.08.2018) A new industrial revolution is predicted. The digitalisation of the economy is expected to disrupt production processes, the world of work and society at large. But we still don’t have a clear idea of what this so-called digitalisation entails and its likely social impacts.

Economic and labour market transformations in Europe have led to an increase in non-standard work and new forms of self-employment as well as an upsurge in transitions from one labour market status to another — with great variations between countries, sectors, age groups and gender. In this context, European social protection systems are facing growing challenges in covering social risks for these workers.  

These case studies support the impact assessment on the European Commission initiative "Access to social protection for workers and the self-employed".

They examine gaps in access to social protection for specific types of non-standard forms of employment in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Spain.

The sharing economy: Why people participate in collaborative consumption

Juho Hamari School of Information Science, University of Tampere

Mimmi Sjöklint Copenhagen Business School

Antti Ukkonen Helsinki Institute for Information Technology

Centre for European Policy Studies (02.07.2018) Focusing on Austria, this report provides an overview of online platforms matching supply and demand for paid work, looking at different platforms and activities, working conditions, legal developments, and trends and changes in the labour market. It discusses the different concepts and definitions of platform work and describe how platforms operate. Furthermore, it will look at the characteristics of platforms, reflecting the extraordinary heterogeneity of this new form of employment.