This paper investigates the relationship between the platform economy, industrial relations and social dialogue, as portrayed in the literature. It provides strong evidence that workers in the platform economy are organising into new employee associations (unions) and are also being brought into existing employees associations. None of the evidence surveyed indicates that platforms are organising into employer associations or being incorporated into existing employer associations. Anecdotal evidence suggests that actors in the platform economy are engaging in tripartite dialogue. The authors conclude that i) no overarching framework exists for governing or facilitating social dialogue between the parties involved in the platform economy, and ii) even if the existing framework is applied to parties in the platform economy, it offers a poor fit due to differences between platform workers and employees, and platforms and employers.
Digitalisation is transforming business landscapes and the world of work, and redefining the boundaries of production, consumption and distribution. This has created tremendous opportunities, as new products, processes and techniques have emerged, but has also created threats, as new ways of employment pose new challenges to employers and employees. The overall consequences on labour markets are, however, still highly uncertain, which is reflected in the wide variation in the outcomes of the existing research. The initial government responses appear to be reactive rather than proactive, and targeted towards mitigating the side effects of digitalisation instead of aiming to reap its potential benefits. This study focuses on the impact of digitalisation and the on-demand economy on employment and industrial relations. Traditional businesses and industries as well as new forms of work in the on demand economy are assessed. For both, job creation and destruction, interaction with customers and workers/employees, labour relations in terms of both the organisation of work and industrial relations as well as government responses, with a specific focus on labour conditions, taxation and social security, are discussed. The study emphasises in particular aspects relevant to employers.
As a result of technological progress and economic change, new occupations have emerged in the labour market while other occupations have become redundant and disappeared. Along with these new and emerging occupations, new skills have been introduced that can be developed through formal education, on-the-job training or learning-by-doing (or in some other way). This paper presents the Occupations Observatory, which we have created with the aim of providing up-to-date information on these changes in the labour market--reflected in the rise of new occupations and their corresponding skill changes--to policy-makers, researchers, educational institutes, job seekers and many other stakeholders (and how occupational dynamics feed into the occupational classification schemes). We focus not only on new occupations that did not exist before but also on new occupations in terms of recognition, awareness and importance.
Using a sample of approximately 2 million job advertisements published online, this paper assesses which educational, skills and other requirements US employers demand the most. Our analysis is focused on the 30 most-frequently advertised occupations in the United States, of different levels of complexity. Our results suggest that employers are demanding in their job advertisements, even when these concern low- or medium-skilled occupations. Although vacancies for more complex occupations are generally more demanding than those for less complex ones, there is a lot of variation across the 30 occupations. Formal education is the most important criterion for employers in the United States; it is required in 67% of the vacancies examined. Specialised training and licenses, in contrast, appear to be less important. Of the cognitive and non-cognitive skills, service skills in particular are high in demand (called for in 49% of the vacancies). Other non-cognitive skills, both of a social and personal nature, are frequently included as well. Experience is the third key criterion that employers use to screen job applicants. It appears in 38% of the vacancies.
After the crisis, the longstanding debate on a European unemployment benefits scheme (EUBS) was revived as part of a much larger debate on the need for a supranational automatic stabilization function for Europe. The American unemployment insurance (UI) system, given its two-tier structure, has often been regarded as a model for a potential EUBS. Previous research has examined the lessons to be learned from the US UI. This paper builds on this literature but goes one step further as it carefully assesses whether the lessons from the US system could actually be implemented in a European context. Indeed, while there are important parallels between the US and the EU in some areas, significant differences in others may complicate implementation or even render it impossible. In this paper, the aim, therefore, is to identify the aspects of the US system to draw inspiration from--in light of the EU's institutional and political realities--and explain how they inform a potential EUBS. This exercise concentrates on the design and implementation of a potential EUBS. The paper highlights that a two-tier system helps to better attain the goals of unemployment insurance, as demonstrated by the American experience. It also shows the advantages of being pragmatic and taking an incentives-based approach. Other issues, such as solidarity and redistribution, seem more difficulty to tackle in Europe than in the American context and would require further examination. Finally, discretionary measures should be considered with caution.
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