Labour market digitalization and social class: evidence of mobility and reproduction from a European survey of online platform workers

The type of work we do as adults is significantly influenced by our parents’ social class. However, digital technologies are transforming the way labour markets work. Candidates are screened using algorithmic decision-making systems. Skills are validated with online tests and feedback ratings. Communications take place online. Could these transformations undermine the advantages that have accrued to workers with privileged backgrounds or reproduce this privilege through digital divides? We examine this question with survey evidence from the online (remote) platform economy, a labour market segment where these digital transformations have progressed furthest (N = 1,001). The results reveal that online platform workers come predominantly from privileged class backgrounds, but we find less evidence of parental class shaping what types of online work they do. We conclude that digital transformations of labour markets may reproduce disparities in access to work but attenuate some class-based differences in the selection of workers by employers

Compute North vs. Compute South: the uneven possibilities of compute-based AI governance around the globe

Governments have begun to view AI compute infrastruc-tures, including advanced AI chips, as a geostrategic re-source. This is partly because “compute governance” is believed to be emerging as an important tool for govern-ing AI systems. In this governance model, states that host AI compute capacity within their territorial jurisdictions are likely to be better placed to impose their rules on AI systems than states that do not. In this study, we provide the first attempt at mapping the global geography of pub-lic cloud GPU compute, one particularly important cate-gory of AI compute infrastructure. Using a census of hyperscale cloud providers’ cloud regions, we observe that the world is divided into “Compute North” coun-tries that host AI compute relevant for AI development (ie. training), “Compute South” countries whose AI com-pute is more relevant for AI deployment (ie. running in-ferencing), and “Compute Desert” countries that host no public cloud AI compute at all. We generate potential explanations for the results using expert interviews, dis-cuss the implications to AI governance and technology geopolitics, and consider possible future trajectories

What is the Price of a Skill? Revealing the Complementary Value of Skills

The global workforce is urged to constantly reskill, as technological change favours particular new skills while making others redundant. But which skills are most marketable and have a sustainable demand? We propose a model for skill evaluation that attaches a premium to a skill based on near real-time online labour market data. The model allows us to isolate the economic return of an individual skill measured as a premium on hourly wages. We demonstrate that the value of a specific skill is strongly determined by complementarity - that is with how many other high-value skills a competency can be combined. Specifically, we show that the value of a skill is relative, as it depends on the capacities it is combined with. For most skills, their value is highest when used in combination with skills of the same type. In addition, we find that supply and demand and the membership in specific skill communities, such as finance and legal or software and development, determine the value of a skill. We illustrate that AI skills are hub skills, as they can be combined with other high-value skills to generate beneficial complementarities. The value of some of these in-demand skills has increased significantly over the last years. Furthermore, we contrast our skill premia with automation probabilities and find that some skills are very susceptible to automation despite their high economic value. The model and metrics of our work can inform digital re-skilling to reduce labour market mismatches. In cooperation with online platforms and education providers, researchers and policy makers should consider using this blueprint to provide learners with personalised skill recommendations that complement their existing capacities and fit their occupational background.Comment: 40 pages, 8 figures, 3 table

How many online workers are there in the world? A data-driven assessment

An unknown number of people around the world are earning income by working through online labour platforms such as Upwork and Amazon Mechanical Turk. We combine data collected from various sources to build a data-driven assessment of the number of such online workers (also known as online freelancers) globally. Our headline estimate is that there are 163 million freelancer profiles registered on online labour platforms globally. Approximately 14 million of them have obtained work through the platform at least once, and 3.3 million have completed at least 10 projects or earned at least $1000. These numbers suggest a substantial growth from 2015 in registered worker accounts, but much less growth in amount of work completed by workers. Our results indicate that online freelancing represents a non-trivial segment of labour today, but one that is spread thinly across countries and sectors

Do Microcredentials Help New Workers Enter the Market? Evidence from an Online Labor Platform

We investigate the effects of a voluntary microcredentialing scheme on an online freelancing labor market. Drawing on transaction-level data, we show that obtaining a microcredential increases workers’ earnings. This effect is not driven by increased worker productivity but by decreased employer uncertainty. The increase in worker earnings is realized through an increase in the value of the projects won rather than an increase in the number of projects. We also find that the effect of microcredentials is lower for more experienced workers, which suggests that signaling by microcredentials and other forms of verified information are partial substitutes.</p

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

Labour markets are thought to be in the midst of a dramatic transformation, where standard employment is increasingly supplemented or substituted by temporary work mediated by online platforms. Yet the scale and scope of these changes is hard to assess, because conventional labour market statistics and economic indicators are ill-suited to measuring this “online gig work”. We present the Online Labour Index (OLI), an experimental economic indicator that approximates the conventional labour market statistic of new open vacancies. It measures the utilization of online labour across countries and occupations by tracking the number of projects and tasks posted on major online gig platforms in near-real time. The purpose of this article is to introduce the OLI and describe the methodology behind it. We also demonstrate how it can be used to address previously unanswered questions about the online gig economy. To benefit policymakers, labour market researchers and the general public, our results are published in an interactive online visualisation which is updated daily

Online Labour Index 2020: New ways to measure the world's remote freelancing market

The Online Labour Index (OLI) was launched in 2016 to measure the global utilisation of online freelance work at scale. Five years after its creation, the OLI has become a point of reference for scholars and policy experts investigating the online gig economy. As the market for online freelancing work matures, a high volume of data and new analytical tools allow us to revisit half a decade of online freelance monitoring and extend the index's scope to more dimensions of the global online freelancing market. In addition to measuring the utilisation of online labour across countries and occupations by tracking the number of projects and tasks posted on major English-language platforms, the new Online Labour Index 2020 (OLI 2020) also tracks Spanish- and Russian-language platforms, reveals changes over time in the geography of labour supply, and estimates female participation in the online gig economy. The rising popularity of software and tech work and the concentration of freelancers on the Indian subcontinent are examples of the insights that the OLI 2020 provides. The OLI 2020 delivers a more detailed picture of the world of online freelancing via an interactive online visualisation updated daily. It provides easy access to downloadable open data for policymakers, labour market researchers, and the general public (www.onlinelabourobservatory.org).Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

ICTs and the urban-rural divide: can online labour platforms bridge the gap?

Information and communication technologies have long been predicted to spread economic opportunities to rural areas. However, the actual trend in the 21st century has been the opposite. Knowledge spillovers have fuelled urbanisation and pulled job-seekers into large cities, increasing the gap with rural areas. We argue that new assemblages of technologies and social practices, so-called ‘online labour platforms’, have recently started to counter this trend. By providing effective formal and informal mechanisms of enforcing cooperation, these platforms for project-based remote knowledge work enable users to hire and find work across distance. In analysing data from a leading online labour platform in more than 3000 urban and rural counties in the United States, we find that rural workers made disproportionate use of the online labour market. Rural counties also supplied, on average, higher-skilled online work than urban areas did. However, many of the most remote regions of the country did not participate in the online labour market at all. Our findings highlight the potentials and limitations of such platforms for regional economic development.</p

How many online workers are there in the world? A data-driven assessment

An unknown number of people around the world are earning income by working through online labour platforms such as Upwork and Amazon Mechanical Turk. We combine data collected from various sources to build a data-driven assessment of the number of such online workers (also known as online freelancers) globally. Our headline estimate is that there are 163 million freelancer profiles registered on online labour platforms globally. Approximately 19 million of them have obtained work through the platform at least once, and 5 million have completed at least 10 projects or earned at least $1000. These numbers suggest a substantial growth from 2015 in registered worker accounts, but much less growth in amount of work completed by workers. Our results indicate that online freelancing represents a non-trivial segment of labour today, but one that is spread thinly across countries and sectors.</p