Posts tagged: mechanical turk

Introducing the Online Labour Observatory: Data on female participation in the remote gig economy and more

We are excited to announce a new collaboration between the Oxford Internet Institute’s iLabour team and the International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency. This collaboration is called the Online Labour Observatory—a digital data hub for researchers, policy makers, journalists, and the public interested in the development of online labour markets. Many software developers, graphic… Read More »

How big is the online labour workforce? Our data-driven approach to this tricky question

Development in digital communication technologies has made transacting work remotely easier and more economical. Online labour platforms, also known as online outsourcing, crowd-work, or online gig platforms, are at the forefront of this transition. They allow workers to serve multiple clients at varying hours remotely from their homes or co-working spaces instead of working full-time… Read More »

ILO report: The role of digital labour platforms in transforming the world of work

Digital labour platforms have become a pervasive feature of contemporary society. They allow us to order food, arrange a ride, or buy remote freelancing services online. But how are they transforming the world of work? The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has just released its annual flagship report, which this year focuses on platforms. ILO researchers,… Read More »

What have we learned from the market for Online Labour? [3/3] Homogeneous demand across countries

This September marks the two-year anniversary of the launch of the Online Labour Index, the experimental economic indicator on the utilisation of online labour. This is the final in the series of blog posts describing what we have learned from the data. The paper accompanying the Online Labour Index was just accepted for publication in… Read More »

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 »