JRC Research to support activity on digital labour platforms - AMPWork survey

Dr Sally Wright was engaged by the European Commission’s Human Capital & Employment Unit (JRC-B4), the Directorate for Growth and Innovation of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) to support research activity on digital labour platforms, including expert advice of the Algorithmic Management and Platform Work (AMPWork) survey.

In 2017, the JRC launched an online panel survey on digital labour platforms (COLLEEM) to analyse the impact of digital labour platforms on employment, in terms of their size in terms of number of providers, their working conditions, remumeration, and the profiles and characteristics of the service-providers. The first pilot was completed in 2017, gathering a total of 32,389 responses from 14 EU Member States. In 2018, COLLEEM included a booster sample of 856 respondents who identified as platform workers. The COLLEEM II survey included more detailed questions and more information on the types of tasks performed. To revise and improve the the questionnaire for the second wave, the JRC organised an expert workshop and discussed methodological issues relating to the sampling frame, non-response rate and the creation of a longitudinal sub-sample. Sally was an invited expert at this workshop.

In 2020, the JRC began preparation for the third wave of the survey. The aim of this new wave of the survey, in line with the two previous waves, is to assess and quantify the prevalence of platform work in Europe, the profile of platform workers, the type of work (or tasks) they carry out, their sources of income and remuneration, and their working conditions. In addition, the third wave aims also to measure the use of digital platform tools for purposes of work organisation in the regular economy, and its implications for working conditions for the general workforce. The revised survey was re-named as the Algorithmic Management and Platform Work (AMPWork) survey.

Under this research contract, Sally coordinated and supervised the revision and update of the questionnaire; provided expert advice and feedback on methodological issues that arose in the preparation and implementation of the survey; and provided assistance to the JRC team in the assessment of preliminary data submitted by the fieldwork contractor of the survey.

The fieldwork was completed in March/April 2022. Sally then worked with the JRC Team in analysing the AMPWork survey data. In April 2023, the results were published in a JRC Science for Policy report:

Fernandez Macias, E., Urzi Brancati, M.C., Wright, S. and Pesole, A., The platformisation of work, EUR 31469 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2023, ISBN 978-92-68-01661-9, doi:10.2760/801282, JRC133016.

 

Project Team:

Sally Wright (Principal Investigator)

Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window

Project Duration:

February 2021 - October 2021

Funder: