Posts by Vili Lehdonvirta

About Vili Lehdonvirta

Vili Lehdonvirta is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute. He is an economic sociologist with a background in computer science.

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 »

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 »

Video: Vili Lehdonvirta introduces the Online Labour Index

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIoncQhmDJo&w=640&h=360]   In this video, Prof Vili Lehdonvirta talks about the digital transformation of labour markets and introduces the Online Labour Index, the first economic indicator that provides an online gig economy equivalent of conventional labour market statistics, available as an interactive online tool.

Is the online gig economy growing?

Employers and workers are increasingly using online platforms to engage in project- or task-based freelance work delivered over the Internet. This is known as the online gig economy, and it can be seen as part of both the “sharing economy” and the wider gig economy of temporary work. But do we know that it’s actually… Read More »

Which countries and occupations are embracing the online gig economy?

The Online Labour Index (OLI) is a new economic indicator that provides an online labour market equivalent of conventional labour market statistics. It is available online as an interactive visualization and automatically updating data set. In this post, we will use the index to examine some basic questions about the online gig economy: In which countries… Read More »