Beyond the ‘Gig Economy’: Towards Variable Experiences of Job Quality in Platform Work

Abstract

The ‘gig economy’ encompasses a wide range of jobs, platforms and workers. In this article, we provide the first quantitative evidence in support of the model of job quality developed by Wood et al. that predicts divergence across local and remote platform work. Specifically, we find that remote platform work entails significantly better pay, more flexibility, greater influence over how to do the job, a greater sense of doing useful work, better health and safety, less pain, and less work-related insecurity. In contrast, local platform work entails greater organisational influence and less physical isolation. We explain these disparities by considering how divergent organisational forms emerge across the local/remote divide as a result of specific differences in platform technologies and worker skills.