Digital labour platforms and new forms of flexible work in developing countries: Algorithmic management of work and workers

Rani, Uma; Furrer, Marianne

doi:10.1177/1024529420905187

Cited by 123 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(69 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The acknowledgement of the invisible, informal labours performed by social reproduction is not merely a theoretical exercise. On the contrary, it is crucial for the way in which we can understand and rethink labour policy and labour politics in the age of global labour informalisation, spread across the Global South, but also increasingly so in the Global North, due to the precarious labour relations shaped by the gig economy and platform capitalism (Rani and Furrer, 2020). In fact, the current COVID-19 pandemic is very likely to further boost informalisation rates by multiplying new forms of "smart" homeworking, while also creating novel health-related hazards for the many who cannot afford to labour while staying indoors.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Informal Labours of Social Reproduction

Mezzadri

2020

GLJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To Maria Mies, who in Narsapur discovered how the whole world works.One must continue talking about labour in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, because the labouring poor have always been particularly exposed to health-related risks. This is because the labouring poor perform key reproductive roles in capitalism; indeed, across the world, low-paid informal labourers and care workers are those who, at present, seem unable to withdraw their labour to shield themselves and their families from the potential deadly consequences of the coronavirus. Together with health workers, they are literally sustaining our lives during the pandemic. The health-depleting effects of working poverty have always been obvious in the Global South. Now, they are also increasingly obvious in the Global North. Here, I celebrate the Global Labour Journal's tenth anniversary by discussing how the study of labour dynamics of the Global South can significantly contribute to our broader understanding of global capitalism across the world. After all, as underlined by Jan Breman and Marcel van der Linden (2014), it is clear by now that the "West" is following the "Rest" when it comes to rising rates of labour informalisation, which has become the "mode of employment" at a global level. In fact, the very representation of the so-called Western labour trajectory has always been somewhat biasedover-representing the experience of a handful of core countries within the Western bloc and a (male) labour aristocracy within highly differentiated working classes. Ultimately, capitalism has only ever been "Golden" for a very few, in a very few places, and during a very few years.The progressive pace of labour informalisation is remarkable, and suggests that this is how work manifests itself in the twenty-first century. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO, 2018), 85.8 per cent of total employment in Africa, 71.4 per cent in Asia and the Pacific, 68.6 per cent in the Arab States and 53.8 per cent in the Americas is either informal (based in the informal economy) or informalised (situated within formal production but based on informal relations). Total informal employment for the whole emerging and developing economies bloc is set at 69.6 per cent and, given the weight of this bloc and the extension of processes of precarisation across the whole Global North, it is 61.2 per cent at world level. In short, our entire planet primarily labours informally. 1 If by refocusing our attention on the Global South much can be learned about how the world labours, a good deal can also be understood with regard to the mechanisms of exploitation and labour surplus extraction. In particular, the study of the informal and informalised labour relations across the Global South reveals that exploitation can indeed take many distinct "forms" (Banaji, 2010) where, for instance, the wage relation may be direct or "disguised" -like in the

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Informal Labours of Social Reproduction

Mezzadri

2020

GLJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Third, the framework can be extended to apply to digital gig work. At the time of writing, the Fairwork project is adjusting the specific descriptors and indicators to fit the different circumstances of this type of gig work, such as the greater prevalence of nonpayment, of discrimination in payment, and of psychological risks (Rani and Furrer 2021). These broader applications will also allow the principles to be revisited: to understand whether they are universally applicable or whether they require modification; for example, when applied to different types of platforms and/or as platforms themselves change over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic evaluation of gig work against decent work standards: The development and application of the Fairwork framework

Heeks

Graham

Mungai

et al. 2021

The Information Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Growth of gig work -short-term tasks organized and mediated by digital labor platforms such as Uber and Upwork -is the focus for an increasing body of research. Yet there has been a lack of systematic frameworks that could evaluate this type of labor against decent work standards, and inform consumers and others about relative adherence to those standards across platforms and sectors. In this article we report the development of the "Fairwork framework", based on five decent work principles of fair pay, conditions, contracts, management, and representation. The framework and its associated methodology were first field-tested in South Africa and we report on its use to rate seven gig economy platforms. A league table of platforms was widely publicized and one platform was persuaded to improve working conditions. We reflect on the use and content of the framework, and its role in future action research on decent gig work.

show abstract

“…Digital platforms have led to a major wave of digital transformation in the world of work and labour markets across the world. DPs have become a critical medium through which labour is sourced and a flexible workplace for a growing number of independent contracts, gig, and on-demand workers (Altenried 2020;Rani and Furrer 2020;Scully-Russ and Torraco 2020). Today, online labour platforms are a global characteristic and an integral part of the labour market landscape and broader transformations in most countries (Galperin 2019;Graham, Hjorth, and Lehdonvirta 2017).…”

Section: Platform Economy and Job Creation/employmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5 The available literature shows that DP-mediated works, known as the gig economy, have transformed and reshaped work and the nature of work (Corujo 2017;Anwar and Graham 2020;Scully-Russ and Torraco 2020). The gig economy has become a key source of livelihood, enabling labour to transcend local labour markets and its restrictions by lowering transaction costs mainly generated from information asymmetry (Anwar and Graham 2020;Rani and Furrer 2020;Lehdonvirta et al 2019). Digital work, which includes micro and macro tasks that are digitally transported but performed locally, has been identified also to have tremendous potential in the provision of jobs and job opportunities to the marginalized and untapped labour force, particularly women and migrants who were hitherto excluded from the labour force (Altenried 2020;Anwar and Graham 2020;Rani and Furrer 2020;Dunn 2020;Lehdonvirta et al 2019;Graham, Hjorth, and Lehdonvirta 2017).…”

Section: Platform Economy and Job Creation/employmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital platforms and development: a survey of the literature

Avenyo

Ghauri

2021

Innovation and Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The digital economy has led to significant socio-economic transformations in all aspects of our society and livelihoods. While there is a growing literature on the effect of digital platforms on development, none consolidates the available evidence from a development perspective. In this systematic literature review, we grouped the available literature into three main themes and critically synthesize and analyse the role of digital technology and digital platforms on the development of the modern economy. To enable the inclusion of a wide array of published papers, we allowed for relevant quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies globally. This approach allows us to reflect on the role of digital platforms for development more broadly as well as discuss opportunities for future research.

show abstract

Digital labour platforms and new forms of flexible work in developing countries: Algorithmic management of work and workers

Cited by 123 publications

References 48 publications

The Informal Labours of Social Reproduction

The Informal Labours of Social Reproduction

Systematic evaluation of gig work against decent work standards: The development and application of the Fairwork framework

Digital platforms and development: a survey of the literature

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About