A Fine Balance: Exploring Job Quality in Platform Work Between Migrants and Nonmigrants

Migrants’ engagement in digital platform work is pervasive in many cities around the world and certainly in Canada's metropoles (Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal). While highly precarious, platform work has been shown to offer pathways into labor market integration for newly arrived migrants. Based on 62 qualitative interviews with digital platform workers, this article compares the work experiences of newcomers, settled migrants and nonmigrants engaged in platform work in Canada's three largest cities. The study examines how the different stages of their immigration journey shape the ways in which migrants (versus non migrants) perceive and evaluate their engagement in digital platforms. Satisfying urgent needs, achieving stability and allowing for personal development are three key elements that emerge from this study. These findings invite us to consider what are the main elements in current notions of “quality work” among migrants and nonmigrants and to consider how platforms shape broader labor market integration processes