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37 Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J. 471 (2015-2016)
The Rise of the Just-in-Time Workforce: On-Demand Work, Crowdwork, and Labor Protection in the Gig-Economy

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             THE RISE OF THE JUST-IN-TIME

          WORKFORCE: ON-DEMAND WORK,

    CROWDWORK, AND LABOR PROTECTION IN

                      THE GIG-ECONOMY



                              Valerio De Stefanot


                              I.       INTRODUCTION

      This Article provides an analytical overview of the labor implications
of the so-called gig-economy. The gig-economy is usually understood to
include chiefly two forms of work: crowdwork and work-on-demand via
app.1 The first term is usually referred to working activities that imply
completing a series of tasks through online platforms.2 Typically, these
platforms put in contact an indefinite number of organizations and
individuals through the internet, potentially allowing connecting clients, and
workers on a global basis. Work-on-demand via app, instead, is a form of
work in which the execition of traditional working activities such as
transport, cleaning, and running errands, but also forms of clerical work, is



     t International Labour Office; Bocconi University. The views expressed here and in other parts of
this special issue are personal and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ILO. I am most grateful to
Janine Berg, Mariya Aleksynska, Martine Humblet, Jeremiasl Prassl, and Antonio Aloisi for great support,
discussions and feedbacks on the Article. The usual disclaimer applies.
     1. See Sarah Kessler, The Gig-Economy Won't Last because It's Being Sued to Death, FAST CO.,
Feb. 17, 2015, http://www.fastcompany.com/3042248/the-gig-economy-wont-last-because-its-being-su
ed-to-death; Carolyn Said, Growing Voices Say Gig Workers Need Protections, Benefits, SFGATE, Feb.
17, 2015, http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Growing-voices-say-gig-workers-need-protections-607
9992.php; Rebecca Smith & Sarah Leberstein, Rights on Demand: Ensuring Workplace Standards and
Worker Security In the On-Demand Economy (New York, National Employment Law Project, 2015). For
a broader analysis of digital labor, see also DoMINIQUE CARDON & ANTONIO CASILLI, QU'EST-CE QUE LE
DIGITAL LABOR? (Bry-sur-Mame, INA td., 2015).
     2. A ground-breaking contribution in this respect is the piece of John Howe, The Rise of
Crowdsourcing, WIRED MAG., June 2006, http://www.wired.com/2006/06/crowds/. This Article will only
focus on external crowdwork. It will not, instead, address internal crowdwork. i.e., when business set
up crowdsourcing platforms on their intranet for their internal workforce to contribute to projects as a
crowd. See David David Durward et al., Crowd Work, BUSN. & INFO. SYSTS. ENGINEERING (2016). On
external crowdwork, in the scientific literature, see Birgitta Bergvall-Kdreborn & Debra Howcroft,
Amazon Mechanical Turk and the Commodification ofLabour, 29 NEW TECH., WORK & EMP. 213 (2014);
Miriam Cherry, A Taxonomy of Virtual Work, 45 GA. L. REv. 951 (2011); EUROFOUND, NEW FORMS OF
EMPLOYMENT (2015); Alek Felstiner, Working the Crowd: Employment and Labor Law in the
Crowdsourcing Industry, 32 BERKELEY J. EMP. & LAB. L. 143 (2011); Six Silberman & Lili Irani,
Operating an Employer Reputation System: Lessons from Turkopticon, 2008-2015, 37 COMP. LAB. L. &
POL'Y J (2016).

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