“Migrant labour in the ‘gig’ economy: progress or trap?”

Platform work in the European Union has come under increased scrutiny, for its precarious and sometimes exploitative working conditions and limited social-security coverage….

Persons without the right to work and those who have recently arrived seem particularly visible in the more precarious segments of the platform economy, such as care and cleaning, ride-hailing and food delivery…Foreign-born people are about 13 per cent more likely to resort to platform work to make a living. This is mainly driven by third-country migrants, arriving from outside the EU. The largest over-representation in platform work is observed for migrants born in north America, Australia, Asia and central and south America.…

The entry of these more vulnerable groups into a segment of generally low-quality jobs poses serious concerns about potential exploitation and longer-term, negative effects on labour-market integration and prospects. …

Migrants are more likely to work on platforms when they have fewer other options. This is consistent with previous findings showing that the prevalence of digitally mediated work is higher in regions where there are fewer alternatives of better quality in the traditional labour market…