Plattformbasierte Erwerbsarbeit: Stand der empirischen Forschung

Abstract

This study summarizes the current state of empirical research in economics and social sciences on contract work mediated or provided by online platforms (online contract work). Based on a systematic literature review, this study discusses results on the diffusion of online platforms, the characteristics of workers as well as the motives for labor supply and the working conditions. The study considers services which can be provided from anywhere via the internet (online labor markets), as well as services which are mediated by online platforms but are provided at a predefined location (mobile labor markets). Besides a summary of existing research findings on the topic, this study also evaluates the quality of the empirical methods. The focus lies on the applied methods for data collection as well as the statistical analyses of the data. As a result, the current state of knowledge on online contract work can be regarded as fragmented. While for the United States several studies already exist on the diffusion of online contract work, there is a paucity of corresponding studies in Europe. A considerably higher number of studies deals with other aspects of online contract work, out of which, however, only a few focus on mobile labor markets. Administrative statistics and largescale representative surveys do not yet contain information on online contract work. Existing research on the topic is therefore based on a variety of data sources and methodological approaches, which makes it difficult to compare empirical findings.