Category: Online Labour Index

New publication – Online Labour Index: Measuring the Online Gig Economy for Policy and Research

The impacts of technological change on jobs have been a topic of much interest over recent decades. Existing economic statistics are in general prone to mismeasuring the value of digital activities and investments, because these are often not directly related to production, but to development, design, and marketing, whose value is harder to establish. Existing… Read More »

Where are online workers located? The international division of digital gig work

The Internet has created a global market for digitally delivered freelance work, which is currently growing rapidly. Our new Online Labour Index worker supplement reveals what skills different countries are bringing to the market. For instance, the top occupational category in the United States is writing and translation, while in the Indian subcontinent it is… Read More »

Measuring the supply of digital labour: How the OLI worker supplement is constructed

As more and more tasks and projects are transacted via online platforms and apps, national governments and statistical agencies face increasing challenges in tracking the growth of this phenomenon. To address this, we have created the Online Labour Index (OLI) and its new Worker Supplement. This post explains the methodology behind the OLI Worker Supplement.… Read More »

The online gig economy grew 26% over the past year

Online freelancing and crowdwork are some of the terms used for temporary and project-based work conducted remotely over digital platforms. Unlike the local gig economy of driving and delivery work, this online gig economy often requires specialized skills such as programming and graphic design. Conventional economic indicators are poor at measuring this new market, so… Read More »