IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v79y2026icp550-577.html

Task search and labor supply in the platform economy

Author

Listed:
  • Cantarella, Michele
  • Strozzi, Chiara

Abstract

In this paper, we study how platform workers adjust their labor supply in response to fluctuations in the task offer rate. Using extensive survey data from platform workers throughout Europe, we develop a novel method to estimate workers’ labor supply elasticity to the wage fluctuations that result from the unpaid time spent searching for or waiting for available tasks. Our findings reveal that variations in hourly earnings, when attributable to task search, are inversely related to labor supply. Conversely, labor supply appears to be largely inelastic in response to absolute changes in the pay rate. The estimated elasticities are applicable across diverse categories of platform workers and are robust to a wide array of misspecification and endogeneity tests.

Suggested Citation

  • Cantarella, Michele & Strozzi, Chiara, 2026. "Task search and labor supply in the platform economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 550-577.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:79:y:2026:i:c:p:550-577
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2026.06.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X26001049
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2026.06.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:79:y:2026:i:c:p:550-577. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/525148 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.