RESEARCH RESULTS FROM THE UK, SWEDEN, GERMANY, AUSTRIA, THE NETHERLANDS, SWITZERLAND AND ITALY

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Alyson Lucas
6 years ago
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WORK IN THE EUROPEAN GIG ECONOMY EMPLOYMENT IN THE ERA OF ONLINE PLFORMS There is much talk about the disruptive potential of digitalisation and the sharing economy on labour markets.

1 WORK IN THE EUROPEAN GIG ECONOMY EMPLOYMENT IN THE ERA OF ONLINE PLFORMS There is much talk about the disruptive potential of digitalisation and the sharing economy on labour markets. But surprisingly little is known about the realities of gig work and the new types of employment created by online platforms. Is it a liberating new form of self- employment or a new form of exploitation? How many workers are doing it? Who are they? Is it their main source of income or a top-up to other kinds of work? What is the reality of their working lives? And what are the implications of these new realities for public policy in Europe? RESEARCH RESULTS FROM THE UK, SWEDEN, GERMANY, AUSTRIA, THE NETHERLANDS, SWZERLAND AND ALY Authors: Ursula Huws, Neil H. Spencer, Dag S. Syrdal, Kaire Holts Discover infographics and download the full report on

1 2 THE MOST PREVALENT ONLINE INCOME- GENERING ACTIVY IS SELLING GOODS MORE THAN HALF OF CROWD WORKERS DO REGULARLY ANY CROWD WORK SELL/ RESELL ON OWN WEBSE SELL SELF-MADE

g. Ebay) 0% 5% 15% 45% 32% 3 25% 31% 3 16% 17% 0% 30% 50% 66% 65% 55% 50% 62% 5 5 5 % 30% 50% 60% 70% 80% 70% 60% 50% 30% 0% 68 50 70 55 66 52 57 71 69 55 65 51 62 50 67 53 CH

2 1 2 THE MOST PREVALENT ONLINE INCOME- GENERING ACTIVY IS SELLING GOODS MORE THAN HALF OF CROWD WORKERS DO REGULARLY ANY CROWD WORK SELL/ RESELL ON OWN WEBSE SELL SELF-MADE PRODUCTS (e.g. Etsy) 1 0% 5% 15% 25% 15% 1 22% 2 0% 5% 15% 25% 1 1 0% 5% 15% 25% RENT TO PAYING GUEST (e.g. Airbnb) RESELL PRODUCTS ON ONLINE MARKETPLACE (e.g. Amazon) SELL OWN POSSESSIONS (e.g. Ebay) 0% 5% 15% 45% 32% 3 25% 31% 3 16% 17% 0% 30% 50% 66% 65% 55% 50% 62% % 30% 50% 60% 70% 80% 70% 60% 50% 30% 0% CH DE NL SE UK EUR CH DE NL SE UK EUR Participation in the online economy as a source of income, by country Frequency of crowd work amongst crowd workers, by country

3 3 4 WHO ARE THE CROWD WORKERS? CROWD WORKING IS NOT ONLY FOR MILLENNIALS 5 57% 61% up to % 2 CH 4 DE 3 25% 25% 15% 1 31% 17% 17% 15% CH DE 56% 61% 17% 22% 2 17% % 17% NL 2 30% 17% 1 SE NL SE 3 30% 22% 15% 22% 2 16% 1 UK EUR 56% 0% 60% 80% 100% UK EUR Any crowd work, by gender (%) FEMALE MALE Age of crowd workers, by country (%)

FULL-TIME PARENT 0% 0% 2% 6% 5 3 UK EUR 15% RETIRED 1% 1% 5% 6% 0% 1% 2% 5% 6% STUDENT /PUPIL 5% 0% 6% 15% up to 10 10 to 75% 75% to all CH DE

4 5 6 CROWD WORK IS GENERALLY A COMPLEMENT TO OTHER INCOMES BUT FOR SOME IS THE MAIN INCOME SOURCE PEOPLE WHO ALREADY HAVE A FULL TIME JOB ALSO PARTICIPE IN CROWD WORK 3 CH 16% 30% DE 1 FULL-TIME 5 55% 0% 30% 50% 60% PART-TIME 16% 15% 0% 5% 15% 25% 36% 1 46% NL 3 SE SELF 7% 0% 6% 15% FULL-TIME PARENT 0% 0% 2% 6% 5 3 UK EUR 15% RETIRED 1% 1% 5% 6% 0% 1% 2% 5% 6% STUDENT /PUPIL 5% 0% 6% 15% up to to 75% 75% to all CH DE NL SE UK EUR Earnings from crowd work as a proportion of all personal income up to to 75% 75% to all Employment status of crowd workers, by country (%)

5 THE DEFINION OF CROWD WORKING INCLUDES ANY RESPONDENTS WHO SAID TH THEY HAD EVER SOLD THEIR LABOUR VIA AN ONLINE PLFORM IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING THREE CEGORIES: 1. Carrying out work from your own home for a website such as Upwork, Freelancer, Timeetc, Clickworker or PeoplePerHour2. 2. Carrying out work for different customers somewhere outside your home on a website such as Handy, Taskrabbit or Mybuilder. 3. Carrying out work involving driving someone to a location for a fee using an app or website such as Uber or Blablacar. The EUR figures is the average from the seven countries surveys This joint research project was launched in January 2016, by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), UNI Europa and carried out by the University of Hertfordshire. With the financial support of the European Parliament. Co-funding for national surveys was provided by the Trade Union Unionen in Sweden, the TNO Research Institute in the Netherlands, The Chamber of Labour (AK) in Austria, the Trade Unions Ver.di and IG Metall in Germany, the Trade Union Syndicom in Switzerland and the Fondazione EYU in Italy. Fieldwork for the surveys in these seven countries was carried out by Ipsos MORI between January 2016 and April The report also draws on 15 in-depth qualitative interviews with crowd workers, which form part of an ongoing project. In 2018n the project will be expanded to other European countries, such as Estonia, France, Greece, etc Published by FEPS FOUNDION FOR EUROPEAN PROGRESSIVE STUDIES Rue Montoyer, Brussels, Belgium - info@feps-europe.eu UNI EUROPA Rue Joseph II, Brussels uni-europa@uniglobalunion HERTFORDSHIRE BUSINESS SCHOOL, UNIVERSY OF HERTFORDSHIRE College Lane, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, UK FEPS, UNI Europa, University of Hertfordshire With the financial support of the European Parliament Responsibility for the information and views expressed in the book lies entirely with the authors.

(32.2% after weighting) said they had tried to find work, managed via socalled sharing economy platforms such as Upwork, Uber or Handy.

(32.2% after weighting) said they had tried to find work, managed via socalled sharing economy platforms such as Upwork, Uber or Handy. First survey results reveal high levels of crowd work in Switzerland Authors: Ursula Huws, Neil H. Spencer, Dag S. Syrdal The so-called gig economy has attracted increasing attention in recent years, with