Digital labour and welfare regimes: The impact of the institutional context on the prevalence of platform work

Platform work is on the rise across Europe, but not similarly across countries as shown from the as yet limited cross-national research. This study sets out to analyze how structural differences in the organization of the economy and welfare state shape individual’s engagement with platform work and particularly (1) the take-up of platform work; and (2) the extent to which the more economically vulnerable are overrepresented. In a context where the labour market is more regulated, workers are more protected, and there is a more generous safety net, there is less need to engage in generally precarious platform work. This study makes use of two comparable cross-national datasets on engagement in platform work across Europe. We find indications that platform work is generally less likely in countries where there is greater social spending and redistribution, higher passive labour market policy spending, and lower labour market dualization. Such factors, namely, social security and the regulation of the labour market, particularly protect more vulnerable workers.