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Digital labour and development: impacts of global digital labour platforms and the gig economy on worker livelihoods

Author

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  • Mark Graham

    (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, UK The Alan Turing Institute, UK)

  • Isis Hjorth

    (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK)

  • Vili Lehdonvirta

    (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK The Alan Turing Institute, UK)

Abstract

As ever more policy-makers, governments and organisations turn to the gig economy and digital labour as an economic development strategy to bring jobs to places that need them, it becomes important to understand better how this might influence the livelihoods of workers. Drawing on a multi-year study with digital workers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-east Asia, this article highlights four key concerns for workers: bargaining power, economic inclusion, intermediated value chains, and upgrading. The article shows that although there are important and tangible benefits for a range of workers, there are also a range of risks and costs that unduly affect the livelihoods of digital workers. Building on those concerns, it then concludes with a reflection on four broad strategies – certification schemes, organising digital workers, regulatory strategies and democratic control of online labour platforms – that could be employed to improve conditions and livelihoods for digital workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Graham & Isis Hjorth & Vili Lehdonvirta, 2017. "Digital labour and development: impacts of global digital labour platforms and the gig economy on worker livelihoods," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(2), pages 135-162, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:23:y:2017:i:2:p:135-162
    DOI: 10.1177/1024258916687250
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    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Oluka, 2024. "The impact of digital platforms on traditional market structures," Technology audit and production reserves, PC TECHNOLOGY CENTER, vol. 2(4(76)), pages 21-29, April.
    2. Agnieszka Piasna & Jan Drahokoupil, 2017. "Gender inequalities in the new world of work," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(3), pages 313-332, August.
    3. Maj Grasten & Leonard Seabrooke & Duncan Wigan, 2023. "Legal affordances in global wealth chains: How platform firms use legal and spatial scaling," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(4), pages 1062-1079, June.
    4. Paul Langley & Andrew Leyshon, 2023. "FinTech platform regulation: regulating with/against platforms in the UK and China," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(2), pages 257-268.
    5. Prasetyo, Eko Heru, 2024. "Digital platforms’ strategies in Indonesia: Navigating between technology and informal economy," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Laura García-Fernández & Marta Ortiz-de-Urbina-Criado & María-José García-López, 2024. "Mapping the main research themes in digital human resources," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Christine Bischoff & Ken Kamoche & Geoffrey Wood, 2024. "The Formal and Informal Regulation of Labor in AI: The Experience of Eastern and Southern Africa," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(5), pages 825-835, October.
    8. Sonia Maria Guedes Gondim & Laila Carneiro & Valentina Viego & Erico Rentería-Pérez & Diana Cifuentes-Leiton & Daniela Moscon & Elisa Ansoleaga & Esteban Agulló-Tomás, 2024. "Effects of Flexibility on Digital Platform-Mediated Work in Five Ibero-American Countries," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, June.
    9. Marios Kokkodis, 2021. "Dynamic, Multidimensional, and Skillset-Specific Reputation Systems for Online Work," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 688-712, September.
    10. Ryan Edwards & Daniel Suryadarma, 2022. "Introduction to the special issue on social and economic impacts of online marketplaces on women in Asia," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 217-221, September.
    11. Meredith Dedema & Howard Rosenbaum, 2024. "Socio‐technical issues in the platform‐mediated gig economy: A systematic literature review: An Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) paper," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 75(3), pages 344-374, March.
    12. Douglas Wegner & Alexandre Borba Silveira & Diego Marconatto & Maciej Mitrega, 2024. "A systematic review of collaborative digital platforms: structuring the domain and research agenda," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(9), pages 2663-2695, September.
    13. Francesca Bellesia & Elisa Mattarelli & Fabiola Bertolotti, 2023. "Algorithms and their Affordances: How Crowdworkers Manage Algorithmic Scores in Online Labour Markets," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 1-37, January.
    14. Paula McDonald & Penny Williams & Robyn Mayes & Maria Khan, 2024. "Income generation on care work digital labour platforms," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 358-380, June.
    15. Helwing Veronique & Verfürth Philip & Franz Martin, 2023. "Trucking (un)limited – the impact of digital platforms on labour in production networks of logistics," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 67(4), pages 177-188, December.
    16. Ajeet Kumar Pankaj & Manish K. Jha, 2024. "Gig workers in precarious life: The trajectory of exploitation, insecurity, and resistance," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(5), pages 935-946, November.
    17. Silvia Devita Syahril, 2025. "Determining the Assurance of Rights and Interests for Gig Workers in the Malaysian Ride-Hailing Industry: A Strategic Analysis for Sustained Industry Participation," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(1), pages 2110-2123, January.
    18. Lehdonvirta, Vili & Kässi, Otto & Hjorth, Isis & Barnard, Helena & Graham, Mark, 2018. "The Global Platform Economy: A New Offshoring Institution Enabling Emerging-Economy Microproviders," SocArXiv jt4z7_v1, Center for Open Science.
    19. Moritz Altenried, 2024. "Mobile workers, contingent labour: Migration, the gig economy and the multiplication of labour," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(4), pages 1113-1128, June.
    20. Geert De Neve & Kaveri Medappa & Rebecca Prentice, 2023. "India’s Gig Economy Workers at the Time of Covid-19: An Introduction," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 18(3), pages 343-358, December.
    21. Nurazeera Farisya Mohammad Faris & Siti Zubaidah Abdul Kadir & Khairul Rahmat Ahmad & Nazni Noordin, 2025. "Administering the Gig Economy: Unlocking Opportunities, Tackling Challenges," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(1), pages 1266-1274, January.
    22. Fuchs Martina & Cumbers Andrew, 2023. "Digitalization and Labor Restructuring," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 67(4), pages 173-176, December.
    23. Aditya Ray, 2024. "Coping with crisis and precarity in the gig economy: ‘Digitally organised informality’, migration and socio-spatial networks among platform drivers in India," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(4), pages 1227-1244, June.
    24. Ensar Balkaya & İkram Yusuf Yarbaşı & Muhammed İkbal Tepeler, 2023. "Determinants of Demand in Digital Platform-Mediated Service Work in Turkey: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-18, July.
    25. Welmah N. Mutengwe & Adrino Mazenda & Moreblessing Simawu, 2024. "Uber's digital labour platform and labour relations in South Africa," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 42(1), January.

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