ALGORITHMIC LABOR IN THE PLATFORM ECONOMY: DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURES, JOB QUALITY, AND WORKPLACE SURVEILLANCE.

• Author: Popescu, Gheorghe H.
• Position: Report

1. Introduction

   Online labor platforms assist customers in reaching a broadly uncontrollable large-scale surplus of labor (Balica, 2017; Meila, 2018), and utilize algorithms to clarify work away from individuals with unsatisfactory ratings, consequently making persisting on the platform a barely feasible means of earning a living. The job quality of distant gig labor can be characterized by its particular organizational type in addition to social and environmental conversion elements. (Wood et al., 2018)

2. Literature Review

   Employees with conflicting levels of marketplace bargaining power (Bratu, 2017) have dissimilar job quality practices. Underperforming individuals confront deep supervisory exigency (Gilbert, 2017) and sanction due to remote concealed scrutinizing of their work. As regards job quality, this encompasses an absence of employee autonomy (Healy, Nicholson, and Pekarek, 2017) in conjunction with significant degrees of work intensity. Such insubstantial structural capacity is a result of platform-based appraisal systems facilitating a type of supervision which may surmount the spatial and temporal obstacles (Havu, 2017) that non-proximity (Teschers, 2017) allocates on the clout of close labor process scrutiny. (Wood et al., 2018)

3. Methodology

   Using data from BloombergOpinion, Edelman Berland, Elance-oDesk, Ernst & Young, Freelancers Union, National Technology Readiness Survey, T. Rowe Price, and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, we performed analyses and made estimates regarding the income gap between traditional and gig workers, on-demand economy consumers by technology readiness segment compared to the U.S. population, self-employed workers as a percentage of total employment, not seasonally adjusted, and on-demand economy consumers by age group.

4. Results and Discussion

   In peer-to-peer sharing services, social and safety advantages have steadier significance than trust advantages on customer loyalty. Such staunchness to service suppliers in the sharing economy is instrumental in preserving the peer-to-peer links. (Yang et al., 2017) In exchange-oriented environments, the selection operation for nearly all customers (Popescu Ljungholm, 2016, 2017) is driven by the essential value obtained from the offering. They would shift to another participant who provides superior value for the money and additional reduction in expenses. (Habibi, Davidson, and Laroche, 2017) The organizational type distant gig workers come into contact...