Senior-oriented on-demand economy: Locality, matching, and scheduling are the keys to success

Abstract

The world’s population is aging at an unprecedented rate. Promoting the engagement of senior workforces is essential to cover the increasing cost of social security and to provide aging workers with a raison d’être. Although many seniors are willing to work, senior workforces, with their waning strength and skills, are not commonly employed. We argue that the on-demand economy is a promising platform for the senior workforce because of the flexibility it provides to these workers. First, we introduce a new classification of on-demand services, distinguishing four groups: property sharing, real-world skills, bargaining of goods, and online crowdsourcing. Next, we discuss key technologies needed to improve support to senior workforce in an on-demand economy. Finally, we build an online consumer-to-consumer matching platform, GBER, where senior workers find local jobs. GBER consists of two functions: a comprehensive help-matching function, and a specialized freelancer-matching function.