Dr Funda Ustek Spilda
Research Associate
Dr Funda Ustek-Spilda was a postdoctoral researcher and project manager on the Fairwork project at the Oxford Internet Institute.
The estimated 50 million gig workers worldwide have been particularly hard-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Reports indicate that half have lost their jobs; those still working have lost two-thirds of their income on average; and many face the impossible choice between destitution and infection. While those still in work perform functions essential to society, the pandemic has opened up fracture lines of inequality: not just between gig workers and others who are currently better served by government support schemes, but also by placing added pressures on women, immigrants, and minority-ethnic groups who form a core part of the gig workforce.
To investigate this further, the research team at the Fairwork Foundation undertook a survey of platform response policies; as of April 2020 covering 120 platforms in 23 countries across Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. The report finds that, despite some positive responses, a number of issues remain in platforms’ protection of their workers during the pandemic.
Details
Publication date:
November 2020
November 2020
Authors
Professor Richard Heeks
University of Manchester
Professor Mark Graham
Professor of Internet Geography
Mark Graham is an economic geographer. His research focuses on digital labour, the gig economy, and digital inequalities. He is the author, most recently, of The Gig Economy: A Critical Introduction.
Dr Alessio Bertolini
Researcher
Alessio Bertolini is a Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute for the project FairWork, where he is investigating platform work in the UK and Germany.
Srujana Katta
DPhil Student
Srujana is a doctoral student at the OII and a member of the Fairwork Project. Her research focusses on digital labour, migration, and resistance.
Professor Sandra Fredman
Faculty of Law, University of Oxford
Dr Kelle Howson
Former Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Kelle Howson is a Research Associate on the Fairwork project. Kelle is a development geographer interested in how ethical certification is reshaping governance and power relations in global networks.
Fabian Ferrari
Former DPhil Student
Fabian's doctoral research examined the political economy of artificial intelligence.
Mounika Neerukonda
Fairwork Foundation
Pradyumna Taduri
Fairwork Foundation
Dr Adam Badger
Former Research Associate
Adam Badger was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, researching working practice in the global gig economy as part of the Fairwork project.
Nancy Salem
DPhil Student
Nancy is a DPhil student at the OII. Her research concerns the public perception and user experience of emerging technologies.
Fairwork
Fairwork highlights best and worst labour practices in the platform economy. Our goal is to show that better, and fairer, jobs are possible in the platform economy and low pay, precarity, and poor working conditions.