Can Labour Market Digitalization Increase Social Mobility? Evidence from a European Survey of Online Platform Workers

21 Pages Posted: 21 Jun 2021

See all articles by Nicholas Martindale

Nicholas Martindale

University of Oxford - Nuffield College

Vili Lehdonvirta

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute

Date Written: May 8, 2021

Abstract

Children tend to inherit their parents’ social class through the types of jobs they get. However, digital technologies are now transforming the way labour markets work. Candidates are increasingly screened using algorithmic decision making. Skills are validated with online tests and customer feedback ratings. Workplace communications take place over digital media. Could these transformations be undermining the advantages that have accrued to workers with posh accents, family connections, and expensively acquired educational qualifications? We examine this question with survey data from the online (remote) platform economy, a labour market segment in which these digital transformations have progressed furthest (N = 983). The results reveal that online platform workers come largely from privileged class backgrounds. Class also influences (via education) what types of online occupations workers do, from professional services to data entry. However, class background has surprisingly little influence on job quality, which is instead shaped by individual digital metrics such as feedback ratings. These findings cannot be fully reconciled with theories of a shift towards meritocracy nor with theories of a persisting influence of class origins. Instead, labour market digitalization may be decoupling inherited occupation from job quality.

Suggested Citation

Martindale, Nicholas and Lehdonvirta, Vili, Can Labour Market Digitalization Increase Social Mobility? Evidence from a European Survey of Online Platform Workers (May 8, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3862635 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3862635

Nicholas Martindale

University of Oxford - Nuffield College ( email )

Oxford
United Kingdom

Vili Lehdonvirta (Contact Author)

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute ( email )

1 St. Giles
University of Oxford
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3JS
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk

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