Measuring digital platform‐mediated workers

Abstract

The role of digital platform workers, whether they are delivering fastfood or working remotely categorising photographs, has received much attention both in the media and among policymakers. However, there is a lack of comparable and consistent statistics, over time and across countries, on the number of platform workers, their characteristics and their types of jobs and tasks. This review article examines the attempts that have been made to measure the number of digital platform workers, including both traditional surveys and uses of big data, and it highlights the difficulties encountered and offers guidance on future attempts to estimate the number of digital platform workers.