Plattformarbeit : Zwischenbilanz und Perspektiverweiterung

Platform work comprises paid activities that are mediated and transacted via internet platforms. While digital results can be transferred online in location-independent crowdworking, the location-based work of the gig economy, such as driving and delivery services, is carried out locally. The author’s overview of the research demonstrates the largely precarious working conditions and the dependence on one-sided rule-setting and algorithmic control procedures of the platforms. In a broader perspective, network-oriented and product-related platform work is included, because the conditions of online sales or content creation for social networks have many similarities with gig and crowdwork. It is mostly self-employed work, predominantly as a sideline. For all the heterogeneity of this broad spectrum of platform work, there are features familiar from research into the self-employed: competitive pressure, income combinations, partialised work interests. For the representation of interests, therefore, similar challenges arise as in the case of labour policy frameworks for solo self-employment.