Social equity & labour
Gig Economy
A labour market characterised by short-term, task-based work — often mediated by digital platforms — rather than standard full-time employment, raising questions of security and rights.
Definition
The gig economy is a labour market based on temporary, flexible, task-by-task work, typically arranged through digital platforms, in which workers are usually engaged as independent contractors rather than employees. It overlaps with what the ILO calls platform work and what statisticians class as non-standard employment — temporary, part-time, on-call, and self-employment arrangements.
References
terminology and scope
working-conditions evidence
Overview
What it means
Gig work offers flexibility and low barriers to entry but shifts risk onto workers: no minimum hours, limited access to social protection, sick pay, or collective bargaining, and algorithmic management that controls prices and access to work. The classification of platform workers — employee, self-employed, or a third category — is a live legal battle in many jurisdictions.
How it is used
The concept structures debates on labour rights in the digital economy, EU platform-work regulation, social-protection reform, and corporate social responsibility for platforms.
Why it matters
Decent work is SDG 8: the gig economy tests whether employment protections built for the 20th-century firm can survive the platform model — a core social-sustainability question.
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