The platform economy and micro-work: a necessary evil?

Digital and the platform economy

The digital revolution has transformed the possibilities and modalities of work: micro-work[1], portage, multi-salariat, telecommuting, coworking...). There are almost 260,000 of them in France, according to the report Le Micro-travail en France, and over 100 million worldwide. It is now commonplace for people to hold several jobs, whether remote or face-to-face, for a variety of reasons, the most important of which is economic.

Some micro-working platforms

Individuals equipped with a computer and paid to do word processing, moderating on social networks or filing invoices on behalf of companies: this is the principle of the service economy. This has led to the digitization of work[2], the status of autoentrepreneur, telecommuting and uberization[3].

The dark side of the collaborative economy

Among the disadvantages of this transformation are professional isolation, the interference of work in personal life, reduced social contact, longer working hours and so on.

But above all, the very low hourly wages imposed by certain international platforms. Indeed, the majority of workers in the platform economy are low-paid, invisible and precarious micro-workers. And some critics see micro-work as a pernicious means of exploiting laborers who enjoy no social protection as a result of the activity they perform. In France, researchers spent 3 months interviewing almost 1,000 click workers on the Foule Factory platform.

And the report reveals some alarming aspects of the social reality of microworkers:

• 56.1% are women
• 63.4% are aged between 25 and 44
• 43.5% have more than a 2-year higher education qualification
• 27.9% are said to be inactive
• 22% live below the poverty line
• 81.5% use at least 2 platforms, sites or applications.

This form of work is becoming increasingly widespread in developing countries, where access to employment remains a constant challenge. Unlike their elders, they know that job security and retirement are not a given. In West Africa, for example:

• 14.3% of workers in the capital cities of the Economic and Monetary Union of West African States (UEMOA) hold their main job for less than 35 hours a week, although they would like to work more;
• 43% of employed workers in UEMOA capitals work more than 48 hours a week, a proportion that rises to 48% if we consider only workers in the informal sector!

This means that more and more people are working too much to earn a decent income. Pluri-activity[4] is often seen as a household strategy to boost income, particularly in the face of cyclical constraints or the risk of short-time working. And according to a report[5] by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), 30-year-olds will be working in no fewer than 13 different occupations, some of which don't even exist yet.

The platform economy and skills development

In many developing countries, where a large proportion of the population has no access to quality basic education, the challenge of equipping people with the skills needed to participate in the platform economy is far greater[6] than in northern countries. Moreover, we need to ask not only what skills barriers stand in the way of access to this new form of work, but also what kinds of economic mobility the platform economy fosters.

Another link between skills development and the platform economy is the collaboration between training centers and platform economy companies.

Organizations like Souktel, which operates in the Middle East, have used cell phone technology to revolutionize labor market matching and connect young people to skills development programs. Souktel and others use SMS-based systems to build profiles of unemployed young people and then link them to relevant opportunities. Could these types of portals be integrated into platform economy systems so that workers using these platforms have an effective channel for finding out about professional and skills development opportunities?

An overview of existing practices in Africa

In Africa, this mode of work based on online platforms enables people to improve their income and enjoy greater autonomy, according to the results of a survey conducted by researchers at the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria among 500 of these e-workers, notably in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

In 2013, at the time of the launch of Naijacloud, a website connecting employers and digital micro-employees, Nigeria had even estimated that this sector could represent 450 to 900 million dollars a year.

Since June 2016, Isahit, a French company has been aiming to reconnect young African women to the world of work through micro-tasks. In Cameroon, women go to work at markets in the morning, then spend the afternoon moderating comments on websites. In Togo and Burkina Faso, students also supplement their income in this way. Isahit's model is close to that of Amazon Mechanical Turk[7]. But the remuneration levels of Amazon's 500,000 turkers are heavily criticized, with sometimes only a few cents on the dollar per task. But Isahit pays $20 (18 euros) a day for seven hours' work, and the founders aim to recruit 10,000 people in Dakar, Abidjan, Ouagadougou and Yaoundé.

In 2017, the Kenyan government launched "Ajira", a digital skills training program for young people that aims to reduce ambient unemployment by creating one million jobs.

Joe Mucheru, Kenya's Minister of Information, Communication and Technology explains that the authorities plan to maximize efforts on online jobs that several companies in the country have been offering in recent years: "Companies are offering more online work because it's more convenient and profitable for them...". The Kenyan government estimates that over 40,000 Kenyans have obtained online work ranging from transcription services to software development on sites such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and Kenyan platform KuHustle. The ambition is to build on this success with the Ajira (Swahili for employment) program.

The platform economy and micro-work: a necessary evil?

Criticism of the platform economy, characterized by micro-work and the absence of social protection for micro-workers (or auto-entrepreneurs), is numerous and growing. While it's true that it's better to teach a beggar (in this case the unemployed or underemployed) to fish than to constantly give him fish, the fact remains that this beggar, now a fisherman, will always remain poor all his life if he has no control over the price or the processing and distribution chain of his fish. Even less so if he has no means of organizing himself.

If workers organize to gain more power to participate in capital or change the balance of power, they will eventually win. In some countries, such as France, Canada and the UK, micro-workers have realized this necessity and have set up unions and associative groups to better defend their interests against the platform giants who reap most of the profits.

In France, for example, we have

• The national federation of autoentrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs (FNAE)
• The Uberization Observatory
• CLAP (Collectif des Livreurs Autonomes Parisiens)

However, I think it's important to balance things out. The evolution of micro-work certainly generates fears, but it's also a source of fantasy and hope. Particularly for young entrepreneurs, who see it as a hope of finding their place. Beyond economic motivations, micro-working, telecommuting, multi-working and so on, offer opportunities for skills training, economic mobility, empowerment and even personal fulfillment for some. It's an alternative way of fulfilling a passion or dream. For others, it's an inner quest driven by curiosity and a taste for adventure.

Researchers and governments have a daunting task ahead of them in assessing the effects of the platform economy, not to mention developing new policies around it. These new policies and regulations should capitalize on the benefits of the platform economy rather than trying to limit its growth.

References

• Galperin, H. and Greppi, C. (2017), Geographical Discrimination in the Gig Economy. Available at SSRN: https: //ssrn.com/abstract=2922874
• IT for Change (2017, August). Policy Frameworks for Digital Platforms: Moving from Openness to Inclusion (Rep.). Retrieved from http://itforchange.net/sites/default/files/1377/Background%20Paper_Platform%20Policies_August%202017.pdf
• Kenny, M. & Zysman, J. (2016). Rise of the platform economy, Issues in Science and Technology, 32(3). Retrieved from http://issues.org/32-3/the-rise-of-the-platform-economy
• Lehdonvirta, V., Hjorth, I., Graham, M., & Barnard, H. (2015). Online Labour Markets and the Persistence of Personal Networks: Evidence From Workers in Southeast Asia. Presented at the ASA Annual Meeting 2015 session on The Changing Nature of Work, Chicago, 22-25 August. Retrieved from http://vili.lehdonvirta.com/files/Online%20labour%20markets%20and%20personal%20networks%20ASA%202015.pdf