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Digital labour platforms: a need for international regulation?

Author

Listed:
  • Janine Berg

    (International Labour Office)

  • Miriam A. Cherry

    (Saint Louis University Law School)

  • Uma Rani

    (International Labour Office)

Abstract

Web-based, digital labour platforms permit the real-time hiring of labour for a myriad of tasks from IT programming to graphic design to routine clerical tasks. The ease, flexibility and low-cost of outsourcing work to digital labour platforms has resulted in their growth, and this growth is likely to continue in the future. Yet these online activities pose important regulatory challenges that cannot effectively be addressed solely through national responses. Recognizing these difficulties, the ILO’s Global Commission on the Future of Work called for an international governance system for digital labour platforms that could set and require platforms, and their clients, to respect certain minimum rights and protections for all workers. This paper will discuss the prospects and challenges inherent in cross-border, web-based, digital labour platforms for workers, operators, and regulators and put forward possibilities for establishing an international regulatory framework for these new forms of work.

Suggested Citation

  • Janine Berg & Miriam A. Cherry & Uma Rani, 2019. "Digital labour platforms: a need for international regulation?," Revista de Economía Laboral - Spanish Journal of Labour Economics, Asociación Española de Economía Laboral - AEET, vol. 16, pages 104-128.
    • Handle: RePEc:rel:journl:y:2019:v:16:n:2:p:104-128
    Note: Vol. 16, Núm. 2 (2019)
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    File URL: http://www.aeet.eu/images/RePEc/rel/journl/rel/147-Texto_del_artculo-377-1-10-20200219.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    2. Ajay Agrawal & John Horton & Nicola Lacetera & Elizabeth Lyons, 2015. "Digitization and the Contract Labor Market: A Research Agenda," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Analysis of the Digital Economy, pages 219-250, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Berg, Janine., 2016. "Income security in the on-demand economy : findings and policy lessons from a survey of crowdworkers," ILO Working Papers 994906483402676, International Labour Organization.
    4. Schmidt, Florian Alexander, 2019. "Crowdsourced production of AI Training Data: How human workers teach self-driving cars how to see," Working Paper Forschungsförderung 155, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    5. Cherry, Miriam A., 2019. "Regulatory options for conflicts of law and jurisdictional issues in the on-demand economy," ILO Working Papers 995034190802676, International Labour Organization.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Fietz, Katharina & Lay, Jann, 2023. "Digitalisation and labour markets in developing countries," GIGA Working Papers 335, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    digital labour platforms; transnational regulation;

    JEL classification:

    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions

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