(Finance) – The people who, in 2022, worked via a digital platform (at least one hour in the 12 months preceding the interview) are 565 thousand, 1.5% of the population between 16 and 64 years old resident in Italy (3.0% on average of the 17 European countries that participated in the survey). A percentage that corresponds to half the European average. The phenomenon is more widespread among men (1.8%) than women (1.3%), among people aged between 30 and 54 years (2.0% among 30-44 year olds and 1.7 % among 45-54 year olds) and among the most educated (2.6% among those with at least a degree and 1.7% among those with a high school diploma). This is what theIstat In the report “Work via digital platform: differences by age, gender and qualification”.
About two-thirds used a single platform, 22.3% used at least two platforms to perform the same type of activity, and 10.1% used multiple platforms to perform different activities. Around 89 thousand people carried out the work on a digital platform in the four weeks preceding the interview, with characteristics similar to those found among those who carried it out in the 12 months: men are more numerous than womenthe more represented age groups 30-44 and 45-54 years hey graduates.
Among those who carried out the work on a digital platform in the four weeks preceding the interview, the percentage of inactive and unemployed is lower than those who used it in the previous 12 months: the inactive are 5.6% (they were 18.1% with reference to the 12 months) and the unemployed are 4.8% (5.8% with reference to 12 months). It follows that around 90% are employed, compared to 76.1% with reference to 12 months.
Sale of goods and services is the main activity carried out via the platform
The activities most frequently mediated via the platform are the sale of goods, the delivery of goods (including food), the creation of content (Youtube, Instagram and similar), the rental of houses or rooms, IT services (programming, coding, web design, support and control of online content), teaching, tutoring and translation activities, manual work (electrical, plumbing, painting, etc.) and care, taxi service and passenger transport. In the context of activities related to the sale of goods, 37% of employed people who use a platform are represented by self-employed workers, with and without employees; among these, almost half carry out as their main activity a profession connected to the sale of goods (e.g. merchants or sales workers, commercial distribution technicians and similar professions, or merchants or workers in catering activities, merchants or professionals in recreational activities) . In this case, the platform is used as an additional channel to the traditional one for marketing. A similar situation is also found for the delivery of food or other goods and for those related to house rental. The more frequent activities remain substantially the same even with reference to the four weeks: sale of goods, rental of houses/rooms, delivery of food or other goods, creation of content, which overall represent more than two thirds of the total.
The hourly commitment of working via the platform is low on average
With reference to the four weeks preceding the interview, some were noted characteristics of working via platform: the hourly commitment, the share of income deriving from these activities, the methods of assigning work, the consequences in case of refusal to take on a job, the definition of hours and prices. The hourly commitment for work activities carried out through a digital platform it is on average low: a third of individuals worked for the platform less than an hour, just over a third less than 10 hours, overall eight out of 10 individuals worked for the platform less than 20 hours in the four weeks preceding the interview. The data is consistent with the share of profit derived from work via the platform which for more than two out of three individuals represents a maximum of half of the total income received in the four weeks (for almost half it is less than a quarter). In almost four cases out of 10 the platform assigns the activity directly (for 38.4% of those interviewed) and the share of those who carry it out on their own initiative is similar; only 18% say they can choose between different options or customer requests. The I refuse to take over a business does not entail any consequences in the relationship with the platform for 53.5% of the respondents, while 38.9% declare that the refusal could lead to more or less serious consequences (such as loss of job, disconnection from the platform, loss of relevant assignments or worsening of evaluations). In over eight cases out of 10 lworking hours are totally self-determined, confirming the very high flexibility that characterizes this type of work organisation. In just over 20% of cases the compensation for the work performance is defined by the platform (exact price or range), in 13.5% of cases there is a negotiation with the platform, finally, in over six cases out of 10 it is established by the worker himself (or by another person in cases where there are regulated rates).
The degree of freedom and autonomy in the organization and management of work on a digital platform is generally high, also due to the nature of the prevalent activities – selling goods, renting houses, delivering food and creating content – and the type of workers who, with reference to the four weeks, are mainly self-employed, often with employees, in many cases with profiles that suggest use of the platform as a marketing channel for the products they produce or sell as part of their main work activity.
THE workers via digital platform include people who performed at least one hour of paid work in the reporting period carrying out tasks or activities organized through a digital platform or phone app. For the estimation of workers via the digital platform – Istat says – we limited ourselves to considering the people between 16 and 64 years old referring to the 12 months preceding the interview; some in-depth studies were carried out limited to the previous four weeks, noting the hours dedicated to the activity, the share of income deriving from it, the methods of assigning tasks and defining working hours, the consequences of a possible refusal of the job offered by the platform and pricing system.
The activities considered by Istat in the investigation are: taxi or passenger transport services; transportation of goods, including food delivery; accommodation services (only if there is a work-type service: management of the advertisement on the platform, delivery of keys to customers, cleaning of the room/house); sale of goods (only if produced or purchased with the aim of selling them online); cleaning of environments, plumbing, electrical or similar work; caring for children or caring for elderly people; medical and health services; teaching and tutoring activities; translations; computer programming, coding, web design or graphics, data entry or text editing; control or support online content; creation of content such as videos or texts; other services.