Platforms Workers - On Their Way To Regulation?

1. Overview

Digitalization has seen an incredible lunge forward within the past years. This evolution brought along several opportunities that would not have been otherwise possible. One of the markets that have seen such a step forward is gig economy. Generally speaking, the concept of "gig-economy" defines short-term working arrangements between companies and workers and that are paid following each undertaken task. While it was already a phenomenon on the rise, the COVID-19 pandemic has fostered its growth towards even greater popularity. Gig economy is based both on freelancers, who earn a living from project-based paid assignments, and on people who may already have a permanent job elsewhere but who are looking for a way to increase their income by finding additional means of income. In order to find and undertake such arrangements, people turn to online platforms. This led to their labelling as a new category of workers namely, "platform workers".