Introduction

Summary

The rise of online labor platforms has resulted in a signifi cant transformation in the employment market in the past decade.1109 Their success is attributed to the fact that they easily connect workers and hiring individuals or entities with minimal bureaucratic barriers. Simply put, online labor platforms are regarded in two distinct ways: fi rst, as traditional companies that provide services1110, and second, as innovative technology companies that only intermediate the relationship of the two sides of the labor market. These two conceptual frames share the view that online labor platforms highly decentralize workforces through a system of self-employment or subcontracting.

Studies have demonstrated that the internet was related to the decentralization of the workforce in modern economies even before the emergence of online labor platforms. At the beginning of the twenty-fi rst century, the World Summit of the Information Society recognized that information and communication technology (ICT) was changing working practices. The emergence of online labor platforms has further increased the speed to which ICT has been changing labor. The European Commission has reported that 32% of Europeans provide services through online platforms. The number of independent workers have been growing in Europe and the United States since the popularization of sharing economy platforms. The ubiquity of online platforms in the modern economy led the European Commission, several EU member states, American states’ governments, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to undertake numerous multi-stakeholder initiatives to address the challenges involving workforce conditions in this ICT age.

Even though online labor platforms might expand competition, give easier access to the labor market to unemployed individuals, and generate economic growth, concerns have emphasized the threat this model represents to labor rights and employment standards. Notably, several online platforms controversially classify their workers as self-employees or independent contractors, which has the effect of depriving them of the protections of labor law in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in EU member states.