Migrant workers and digital labour platform. Urban, working and theoretical paths

Journal title ECONOMIA E SOCIETÀ REGIONALE
Author/s Giorgio Pirina, Francesco Della Puppa, Fabio Perocco
Publishing Year 2024 Issue 2024/1
Language Italian Pages 14 P. 27-40 File size 269 KB
DOI 10.3280/ES2024-001003
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The article analyses the relationship between Digital Platform Labor (DPL) and migrant workers, through a critical review of literature and empirical research. Addressing a relatively understudied topic in Italy, the main hypothesis is that for immigrants in Italy – specifically for newly arrived migrants, asylum seekers – low-skill sectors of the gig economy, particularly food delivery services, are new areas of labour insertion, transitional pathways to other eco- nomic sectors. After outlining the features of the gig economy and digital platform labor, the article examines the migrant digital labour analysing the links between platform work and mi- grant workers, then it focuses on the Italian context starting from empirical research conduct- ed in 2022 on food delivery services in Venice. The research corroborates the international literature on gig economy relative to algorithmic mediation, piecework, and formal worker autonomy, while it highlights the “binding flexibility” and commuting between the historical city of Venice and the mainland that these platform workers experience.

Keywords: Gig Economy, Digital Platform Labor, Migrant Workers, Migrant Digital La- bour, Food Delivery, Walker-courier, Venezia

Jel codes: J21, J22, J24, J33, J41, J53, J61

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Giorgio Pirina, Francesco Della Puppa, Fabio Perocco, Lavoratori immigrati e lavoro digitale di piattaforma. Percorsi teorici, lavorativi e urbani in "ECONOMIA E SOCIETÀ REGIONALE " 1/2024, pp 27-40, DOI: 10.3280/ES2024-001003