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: The online gig economy grew 26% over the past year »
We are happy to announce that the Online Labour Index was awarded the first prize in the OxTALENT awards data visualisation category! The annual competition is organised by the University of Oxford IT services to recognize innovative uses of digital technology in learning, research, and public outreach. The Online Labour Index (OLI) is the first… Read More: Online Labour Index wins Oxford data visualisation prize »
shutterstock.com Platforms like eBay, Uber, Airbnb, and Freelancer are thriving, growing the digital economy and disrupting existing business. The question is how to ensure that the transformations they entail have a positive impact on society. Here, universal basic income may have a role to play. Few social policy ideas are as hot today as universal… Read More: Could universal basic income counter the gig economy’s problems? »
Dr Alex J. Wood discussed the implications of the recent UK Uber Employment Tribunal ruling on BBC News. The court decided that Uber must classify its drivers as workers. The ruling means that, pending appeal, Uber drivers are entitled to the national minimum and living wage of £7.20 an hour, rest breaks and sick pay.… Read More: Uber: risk without autonomy or control »
Our colleagues over at the Geonet project have drawn some wonderful maps based on our Online Labour Index country data. The open vacancies are plotted in the figure below. As you can see the distribution is extremely skewed, with the United States buying as much online labour as the whole world combined. One explanation behind this is… Read More: Mapping the demand for online labour »
The Online Labour Index is an index measuring the changes in the volume of projects transacted in major online platforms. As a part of OLI, we also report a breakdown across different occupations. In this post I will discuss how the occupation classification used in the OLI is constructed. In order to classify the work done… Read More: How is online work classified in the OLI? »