Over the past three years, the SWiPE Research consortium has studied the changes made by digitalisation in work content, work done on digital platforms and platform economy, new meanings of work, changes in expert work, entrepreneurship, self employment, the links between education and working life and immigrant entrepreneurship. They are all significant phenomena of today’s work and economic transformation. The SWiPE consortium sent a letter to new MPs, in which was raised five important issues of the platform economy to the MPs to consider in their work:
- The changes made by digitalisation, such as platform economy, do not destroy work, but change the shape of work and the organisation of work.
- The actual platform work is still infrequent, but its importance is constantly increasing.
- The platform economy and the changing labour markets increase the need for continuous development and lifelong learning as part of the development of working life.
- The platform economy enables more efficient organisation of work and reduces transaction costs.
- The platform work provides a flexible opportunity to acquire additional earnings or to employ oneself in full-time with various employers.
The SWiPE has also published policy recommendations based on research results to support decision-making. The SWiPE research project’s policy briefs about platform work are available on SWiPE’s publication page.