IT
PRESS RELEASE
Presented the Fairwork Italia 2024 Report realised by INAPP, Fairwork, Università la Sapienza and Oxford Internet Institute
GIG ECONOMY, INAPP: ‘ONE IN TWO WORKERS SAY THEY HAVE NO ALTERNATIVE FOR ACCESSING THE LABOUR MARKET’
There are 600,000 Italians working through platforms, 57.6% of whom are self-employed, plus 31% who work without a written contractual agreement. Among these, 20% are university graduates and 50% are employed in jobs involving logistics, from food delivery (36%) to the distribution of goods and parcels (14%)
Rome, 30 October 2024 – 2.2 million Italians (1.5 per cent of the population aged between 18 and 74) have declared that they have received an income through a digital platform; of these, around 600,000 have received an income through a job performed on a platform. More than three quarters are men and aged between 30 and 49. Most platform workers have completed secondary education (45%), while almost 20% are university graduates. Fifty per cent of the jobs are in logistics (36 per cent food delivery, 14 per cent distribution of goods and parcels), another 10 per cent in domestic services and 5 per cent in passenger transport; finally, 35 per cent are related to online crowdwork ( IT professionals, translators). 48% of respondents stated that the income earned from working on platforms is an important part of the household budget and for 32% it is essential to meet their living needs. 50% of respondents emphasised the lack of alternatives in accessing the labour market.
These are some of the data that emerged from the ‘Fairwork Italy 2024 Report’ edited by La Sapienza University with Inapp researchers in collaboration with the Oxford Internet Institute (University of Oxford). The results were discussed at the Inapp Auditorium by the president of the National Institute for the Analysis of Public Policies Natale Forlani, professor Andrea Ciarini of La Sapienza University, in charge of the Fairwork Italy 2024 Report, and several scholars and economics experts together with platform management and trade union representatives from the sector.
The Report also showed that work through digital platforms in Italy today is fragmented into different contractual forms, of which the prevalent one is self-employment with 57.6%, to which must be added that 31% of gig workers do not have a written employment contract. Platform work is also characterised by an inherent multi-contractuality. Many workers work on several platforms, even on the same working day, with different contractual forms. The regulation of the sector passes through the construction of a mature system of industrial relations for digitised work, strengthening collective bargaining and improving all those contractual instruments that allow for better protections (unemployment, sickness, maternity, safety at work), work organisation and the spaces of participation of the social partners, also with respect to key issues concerning algorithmic management
Fairwork is a project analysing the impact of artificial intelligence and digital platforms on the labour market, the industrial relations system and the social protection system in 39 national contexts (5 continents). The results of the Italian report will then be compared with those of the other countries included in the Fairwork project, in order to outline the overall quantitative and qualitative trend of platform work, verifying the positioning of the Italian context at international level. The report’s scores show how the platform economy in Italy, as we know it today, presents diversified dynamics, with some platforms more attentive to workers’ needs than others. Please find attached the Report in the Italian version to check the scores given to platforms on each qualitative dimension.
The Report can be downloaded at this link.
For further information:
Presidency – tel.0685447700