Job Quality Gaps Between Migrant and Native Platform Workers: Evidence From Poland

Abstract

The platform economy has grown worldwide, opening labour markets but raising concerns about precariousness. Using a tailored, quantitative survey in Poland, this article studies taxi and delivery platform drivers' working conditions and job quality, focusing on the gaps between natives and migrants. Migrants' job quality is noticeably lower regarding contractual terms of employment, working hours, work–life balance, multidimensional deprivation and job satisfaction. Migrants who started a platform job immediately after arriving in Poland are particularly deprived. They also cluster on taxi platforms, which offer inferior working conditions compared to delivery platforms. The platform economy can be an arrival infrastructure for migrants. However, in New Immigration Destinations such as Poland, where the ethnic economy is underdeveloped and institutional support for migrants is weak, poor working conditions on platforms can exacerbate migrants' labour market vulnerabilities and hinder mobility to better jobs, as platforms often provide limited opportunities for skill development.