The Expansion of Platform Working in Europe
Research indicates that the exponential increase in platform work in Europe is associated with a deterioration in the income of workers in the region.
In 2019, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire, published the report The platformization of work in Europe: highlights from research in 13 European countries, the result of an online survey that involved 29,436 adults from 13 European countries between 2016 and 2019.
According to the report, there has been an increase in platform work in Europe, coupled with a deterioration in workers' incomes: more people have come to depend on several sources of income to ensure their survival and that of their families.
The study points out that:
- the vast majority of people use platform work to supplement their income; and
- around 10% of working adults have worked for digital platforms at least once a week.
The survey also found that technological changes are generating an increase in the use of digital means for organizing and managing work, especially in the service industry.
In this scenario, work on digital platforms occupies a prominent position between these two trends and is the most obvious manifestation of the precariousness that is affecting a significant number of the European workforce.
