The iLabour project is premised on the idea that a fundamental change is taking place in labour markets, or the social, technical, and institutional arrangements through which work and earnings are allocated in society. Previously these arrangements were shaped and enforced through processes of legislation, collective bargaining, and local negotiation. Today, as part of the ongoing digitization of almost every aspect of society, these arrangements are increasingly being shaped and constrained by private software systems that mediate between workers and employers. The objective of the project is to understand the social and policy implications of this momentous shift in labour markets.
The project will study online labour markets (OLMs), also referred to as online work platforms, online staffing platforms, and crowdsourcing marketplaces, forming part of the so-called “platform economy” and “sharing economy”. It will address questions about the size and growth of these markets, the kinds of rules that they embody, the politics and processes through which these rules are shaped, and the ways in which traditional labour market organizations as well as novel worker initiatives succeed or fail in influencing their rules. It will also ask what kind of an economy OLMs contribute towards – a global race to the bottom, a playful economy of moonlighters, or a network economy of individual entrepreneurs? The project will tackle these questions through an ambitious programme of conventional social research and innovative data science methods, on virtual as well as physical research sites around the world.
This work is suported by a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant.
Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research
Vili Lehdonvirta is Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research at the Oxford Internet Institute. He examines how digital technologies are shaping the organization of economic activities in society.
Research Associate
Otto Kässi is a labour economist with a background in econometrics. His research concentrates on empirical study of online labour markets, as part of the iLabour project with Vili Lehdonvirta.
Research Associate
Dr. Gretta Corporaal is a Sociologist of Work and Organizations, previously based at the Oxford Internet Institute, specializing in online labor platforms and the future of work and organizations in the digital economy.
Research Associate
Dr Wood is a sociologist of work and employment, focusing on the changing nature of employment relations and labour markets. As part of the iLabour project, he is currently researching worker voice, organisation and action in the online gig economy.
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30 March 2022
Professor Lehdonvirta takes stock of everything that he and his research team have learned through iLabour, a major research project that he launched in 2015 with funding from the European Research Council.
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