Platform Work and the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Platform Work and the COVID‑19 Pandemic Uma Rani1 · Rishabh Kumar Dhir1
© Indian Society of Labour Economics 2020
Abstract Platform business models emerged with the growth of the Internet in the 1990s and are conceptualized as two- or multi-sided markets, as they facilitate exchange between service providers, clients (business) and workers. This article focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on digital labour platforms, such as freelance online web-based platforms and location-based platforms (transportation and delivery platforms), which have grown exponentially over the past decade. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed immediately some of the vulnerabilities that the workers in the platform economy were facing as they were declared as part of the ‘emergency services’, and this note explores their conditions during the pandemic. Keywords COVID-19 · Digital labour platforms · Digital economy · Platform work · Labour rights · Decent work
1 Introduction Platform business models emerged with the growth of the internet in the 1990s. Platform businesses are conceptualized as two- or multi-sided markets, and they facilitate exchange between service providers, clients (business) and workers (UNCTAD 2019; Teece 2017; Evans and Gawer 2016). For instance, the most widespread two-sided markets are transportation platforms, where customers (riders) are matched with drivers, and freelance or microtask or competitive programming platforms, wherein clients (firms) are matched with workers or a crowd of programmers. The common three-sided market is the delivery platform, wherein the three parties—business partners (grocery or restaurants), the delivery worker and the customers—interact with each other, and the platform facilitates this exchange. These models feature a peculiar governance structure and a set of standards and protocols that facilitate interactions between the different users (clients, customers and workers) which are different from traditional business. The interactions between users on * Uma Rani [email protected] 1
International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland
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the platform are controlled and coordinated by the rules and standards that are laid down in platforms’ terms of service agreements that are unilaterally determined by the platforms, which allows them to scale so as to unleash network effects (Hagel 2015). This strategy allows them to have a dominant position in the market, as is evident from Uber which operates in 69 countries. In this short piece, we will focus on the impact of COVID-19 on digital labour platforms, such as freelance online web-based platforms and location-based platforms (transportation and delivery platforms), which have grown exponentially over the past decade. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed immediately some of the vulnerabilities that the workers in the platform economy were facing, and this note explores their conditions during the pandemic.
2 Role of Digital Labour Platforms During COVID‑19 Lockdown The transportation
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