Presentation by Tuomo Alasoini, Chief Adviser, Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation). The presentation consists of remarks based literature and presentations at the BRIE-ETLA & SWiPE seminar. The seminar was held on 30 August 2016 in the Business and Work in the Era of Digital Platforms research seminar in Helsinki, Finland, where SWiPE, Smart Work in the Platform Economy research project was launched. The seminar was hosted jointly by BRIE-ETLA and SWiPE research projects.

1. Work in the Platform Economy
Some Remarks Based on Literature and Presentations
at the BRIE-­ETLA & SWiPE seminar
Tuomo Alasoini
Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation
tuomo.alasoini[at]tekes.fi

2. How widely is work via online platforms spread? (1/2)
§ Surveys conducted in the US show that about 21% of the adult population have
worked at least once in the platform economy (De Groen & Maselli 2016).
§ In Europe, the respective proportion is clearly lower.
§ In the Netherlands and the UK, the respective proportions are 12% and 11%
(Huws & Joyce 2016a;; 2016b).
• Both countries form a favourable environment for the rise of the platform economy
owing to their high Internet penetration and population density → In most European
countries, the figures are probably lower
§ However, in both countries, around 20% of the adult population say that they
have tried at some time to find work managed via the platform economy.
03-­2013 DM

3. How widely is work via online platforms spread? (2/2)
§ Platform-­mediated work is the main source of income only for a minority of
those who have done that kind of work and the only source only for a very few.
§ In the Netherlands and the UK, only 3% say they have done platform-­mediated
work at least weekly.
§ Crowdworkers have typically also other sources of income, they undertake
work via online platforms only occasionally and they undertake work via more
than one platform.
§ On the other hand, a survey conducted among crowdworkers of two microtask
platforms (Amazon Mechanical Turk and CrowdFlower) shows that taking work
via these platforms has already become for many people a long-­term and
established means to acquire extra income (Berg 2016).
03-­2013 DM

4. Niche-­innovation … or a threat to the existing
employment regime?
§ Today, platform-­mediated work is still a niche-­innovation in comparison with
work performed through the standard employment relationship and
crowdworkers form a relatively small proportion of all self-­employed.
§ In the future, however, platform-­mediated work can become a more serious
challenge to work regulated and protected through the standard
employment relationship than many other ”atypical” or ”new” forms of
employment.
§ However
→ Change is sluggish: there are winners, losers and failures;;
there are quantum leaps but also inertia and setbacks
→ Change is not frictionless: it is institutionally framed
03-­2013 DM

5. Why platform-­mediated work is not only a niche-­
innovation (1/3)
§ Many of the online platforms are only recently established, a fact
which means that the relatively small numbers of crowdworkers so
far do not necessarily indicate a low diffusion potential of that kind of
work in the longer term.
§ The growing numbers of platforms, the spread of knowledge on
them and the further consolidation of business practices with
advances in digital technology and the use of the platforms can
significantly speed up their diffusion.
§ Innovations rarely diffuse a in linear way;; rather the diffusion often
takes a S-­shaped curve (Rogers 2003), and when linked to the
development of digital technologies, diffusion may take place in an
exponential way (Brynjolfsson & McAfee 2014).
03-­2013 DM

6. Why platform-­mediated work is not only a niche-­
innovation (2/3)
§ Young adults are clearly over-­represented among crowdworkers in
acquiring employment and services via online platforms (European
Commission 2016;; Huws & Joyce 2016a;; 2016b;; Smith 2016).
§ Demographic change and the entry of the Y and Z generations to
the labour market can in itself promote the diffusion of platform-­
mediated work and the use of platform-­based services.
§ It is also possible that online platforms will become a means for the
growing number of retired people to participate in the labour market
on an occasional basis.
03-­2013 DM

7. Why platform-­mediated work is not only a niche-­
innovation (3/3)
§ Platform-­mediated work signifies a more radical rupture to a regime
based on standard employment relationship than most other ”atypical”
forms of employment and work.
§ Platform-­mediated work totally rejects the idea of a long-­term
relationship between the requester and the worker, and the status of
”the crowdworker” does not fit well with any traditional grouping of an
employee’s labour market position.
§ The several contemporary disputes on the status and rights of
crowdworkers in court is an indication of the radical nature of this kind
of work from the regime point of view.
03-­2013 DM

8. The rise of platform economy: good or bad for the
workers?
Platform-mediated work is
welcome because it promotes…
§ net democracy
§ transparency
§ virtually-­transmitted
communality
§ people’s opportunities for skills
development, work/life balance
and employment even through
long geographical distances
Platform-mediated work is not good,
because it in most cases means…
§ precarious employment and
insecurity of income for those
involved
§ further commodification of
labour
§ the growth of moral, ethical and
other personal risks for workers
03-­2013 DM

9. Basic archetypes of platform-­mediated work?
(adapted from De Groen & Maselli 2016)
Virtual/global services Physical/local services
Low-­/medium-­
skilled
Small and fragmented
microtasks, conducted on
an individual basis,
requiring low level of skills
Traditionally performed work
tasks assigned via online
platforms, conducted on an
individual basis, requiring
low-­ or medium-­level of
skills
High-­skilled Large-­scale problem
solving and projects, often
conducted collaboratively
between a network of
experts THE MOST
INSPIRING AVENUE
…
03-­2013 DM

10. Human work of the future must be built around
creative and social intelligence: problem setting,
problem solving, ethics and empathy.
This is a matter of training and education, job
design and the structure of economy.
There is a need for smart regulation;; not regulation
that is based on ideas or ideals deriving from the
industrial era.
What is our leeway for national solutions de facto?
03-­2013 DM

11. References
§ Berg, J. (2016) Income Security in the On-­Demand Economy: Findings and Policy Lessons from
a Survey of Crowdworkers. Geneva: ILO, Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 74.
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/-­-­-­ed_protect/-­-­-­protrav/-­-­-­travail/documents/publication/
wcms_479693.pdf
§ Brynjolfsson, E. & McAfee, A. (2014) The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity
in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. New York: W.W. Norton.
§ De Groen, W.P. & Maselli, I. (2016) The Impact of the Collaborative Economy on the Labour
Market. CEPS Special Report No. 138.
https://www.ceps.eu/publications/impact-­collaborative-­economy-­labour-­market
§ European Commission (2016) European Agenda for the Collaborative Economy – Supporting
Analysis. SWD(2016) 184 final. http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/16881
§ Huws, U. & Joyce, S. (2016a) New Estimate of the Size of Dutch ‘Gig Economy’.
http://www.uni-­europa.org/2016/06/30/dutch-­study-­crowdworking-­shows-­growing-­
individualisation-­fragmentation-­digital-­economy
§ Huws, U. & Joyce, S. (2016b) Size of the UK’s “Gig Economy”.
http://www.feps-­europe.eu/assets/a82bcd12-­fb97-­43a6-­9346-­24242695a183/crowd-­working-­
surveypdf.pdf
§ Rogers, E.M. (2003) Diffusion of Innovations. 5th edition. New York: Free Press.
§ Smith, A. (2016) Shared, Collaborative and On Demand: The New Digital Economy.
https://www.ceps.eu/publications/impact-­collaborative-­economy-­labour-­market
03-­2013 DM