A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
The gig economy in the digital era: platform work as a crutch for precarity?
Authors: Nuckols, Julia
Editors: Wilska, Terhi-Anna; Nyrhinen, Jussi
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication year: 2025
Book title : Young People in Digital Environments: Agency, Opportunities and Risks
First page : 188
Last page: 201
ISBN: 978-1-0353-2924-3
eISBN: 978-1-0353-2925-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035329250.00022
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: No Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : No Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035329250.00022
Abstract
Modern platforms have created new areas of gig work in which trading one's time in return for money has become extensively straightforward. Applications such as Wolt, DoorDash, and Uber have amplified an economy in which individuals can easily access gig work via digital platforms. While these workers benefit from easy job entry and flexibility, the providing companies benefit from not having to carry the responsibilities that formal labour contracts ensure to their workers. Young people have been found to be more likely to partake in platform work while also being typically found to be more financially vulnerable. This raises the question: how do younger age and its fiscal vulnerabilities coincide with both the low-level threshold to partake in platform work and its tendency to facilitate uncertain labour conditions? This chapter aims to explore the rise of platform work, weighing its strengths and weaknesses, juxtaposed with the uncertainties typical to younger age.
Modern platforms have created new areas of gig work in which trading one's time in return for money has become extensively straightforward. Applications such as Wolt, DoorDash, and Uber have amplified an economy in which individuals can easily access gig work via digital platforms. While these workers benefit from easy job entry and flexibility, the providing companies benefit from not having to carry the responsibilities that formal labour contracts ensure to their workers. Young people have been found to be more likely to partake in platform work while also being typically found to be more financially vulnerable. This raises the question: how do younger age and its fiscal vulnerabilities coincide with both the low-level threshold to partake in platform work and its tendency to facilitate uncertain labour conditions? This chapter aims to explore the rise of platform work, weighing its strengths and weaknesses, juxtaposed with the uncertainties typical to younger age.
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