Quantity and Quality of Work in the Platform Economy

This critical and scoping review essay analyzes digital labor markets where labor-intensive services are traded by matching requesters (employers and/or consumers) and providers (workers). It first discusses up to what extent labor platform can be treated as two-sided or multi-sided markets, and the implications of these classifications. It then moves to address the legal and regulatory issues implied by these technologies. From a theoretical point of view, using a framework where innovation is not neutral in the labor market, platforms have implications for the quantity of jobs, for the kind of skills and tasks which are exchanged, and in terms of bargaining power of the contracting parties. It includes a critical evaluation of the empirical evidence from a variety of sources.