SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE WORKPLACE: ARE ON-DEMAND COMPANIES EXPLOITING CURRENT REGULATORY AMBIGUITIES AND WORKFORCE PRECARITY?
SHARON SMITH, PAVOL KUBALAABSTRACT. Using data from ADP, Office for National Statistics (UK), ONS, Pew Research Center, Resolution Foundation, Statista, and The Wall Street Journal, we performed analyses and made estimates regarding views of the benefits of Internet-enabled gig work, the percentage of the U.S. workforce that is not employed directly by the company where they work, the share of generational groups who think that the gig economy is good thing for everyone in the U.S., changes in self-employment, and the total number of U.S. employees interested in some type of flexibility (by age). Empirical and secondary data are employed to support the claim that by portraying themselves as ordinary go-betweens and not influential service providers, platforms can relocate almost all of their business risk and expense onto others.
JEL codes: L14; L86
Keywords: social justice; workforce precarity; on-demand company; regulatory ambiguity
How to cite: Smith, Sharon, and Pavol Kubala (2018). “Social Justice in the Workplace: Are On-Demand Companies Exploiting Current Regulatory Ambiguities and Workforce Precarity?,” Psychosociological Issues in Human Resource Management 6(1): 166–171.
Received 27 February 2018 • Received in revised form 22 March 2018
Accepted 24 March 2018 • Available online 19 April 2018
doi:10.22381/PIHRM6120188