Impact of Shared Economy on a Position of Employees and Proposed Changes in Legislation
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Impact of shared economy on a position of employees and proposed changes in legislation For the Association of Independent Trade Unions, processed by the National Training Fund, o.p.s. September 2017 Content Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 4 I. Specification of the term shared economy ..................................................................................... 6 I.1 Definition and main features of shared economy .................................................................. 6 I.2 Function and arrangements provided by the platforms ......................................................... 9 I.3 Types of business modules implemented by the platforms ................................................. 10 I.4 Platforms on labour market ................................................................................................. 12 II. Impacts of shared economy on labour market ............................................................................. 16 II.1 General impacts on labour market ....................................................................................... 16 II.2 Attitude of inhabitants – a shift in paradigm ........................................................................ 21 II.3 Characteristics of online labour market................................................................................ 23 II.3.1 Range ............................................................................................................................ 23 II.3.2 Structure of online labour market ................................................................................ 28 II.3.3 Participants of online labour market ............................................................................ 31 II.3.4 Flash Eurobarometer 2016: Using collaborative platforms .......................................... 35 II.3.5 Earnings in shared economy ......................................................................................... 39 II.3.6 Working conditions ....................................................................................................... 44 II.3.7 Role od education in shared economy ......................................................................... 45 II.3.8 Social dialogue in shared economy ............................................................................... 47 II.3.9 Precarization of work .................................................................................................... 49 II.4 Future development ............................................................................................................. 50 II.4.1 Factors of future development ..................................................................................... 51 II.4.2 Estimates of future growth ........................................................................................... 53 III. Legislative environment for functioning of working of the platforms ...................................... 54 III.1 Approach of supranational institutions to the shared economy phenomena ...................... 55 III.1.1 The European Commission ........................................................................................... 55 III.1.2 The European Agency for the Health and Safety at Work ............................................ 56 III.1.3 OECD ............................................................................................................................. 57 III.2 Regulation of shared economy ............................................................................................. 58 III.3 Potential regulation topics ................................................................................................... 64 III.3.1 Status of platforms – intermediaries or employers ...................................................... 64 III.3.2 Equal opportunities on market ..................................................................................... 67 III.3.3 Problematics of taxes ................................................................................................... 68 2 III.3.4 Status of platform workers / protection of workers´ equal opportunities ................... 71 III.3.5 Social security ............................................................................................................... 73 III.3.6 Working conditions ....................................................................................................... 76 III.3.7 Social dialogue .............................................................................................................. 77 III.3.8 Problematics of education ............................................................................................ 78 III.4 Protection of consumers ...................................................................................................... 79 III.5 Examples of emerging regulation systems in selected countries ......................................... 83 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 88 Literature ............................................................................................................................................. 90 Attachment no. 1: Examples of platforms ............................................................................................ 96 Attachment no. 2: Classification of selected platforms working in the Czech Republic according to how they relate to labour market .............................................................................................................. 108 Attachment no. 3: Unconditional income .......................................................................................... 110 3 Introduction Shared economy has been going through enormous development in the last decade, which was stimulated especially by using information and communication technologies that enable the fast and effective interconnection of a diverse demand for services or products and an adequate supply. At the same time, digital technologies make it possible to access a specific market for a very large number of interested people, who are willing to provide specific services, from professionals to amateurs. For a long time, it is not only about sharing some unused capacities of personal assets, subjects of long-term consumption (for example cars or flats) or short-term consumption (for example tools) or a free time capacity. Commercial goals and business have been more and more dominant in the so-called shared economy. The term ´shared economy´ is therefore not absolutely precise, nevertheless, it is still used. Its content has not been large so far but in some areas like for example accommodation and transport, it plays a significant part on market and it enters other areas very quickly. It is especially about services that require lower qualifications, such as personal services or services for households, but also more demanding services like ICT, advisory services, education, services of designers, architects and similar. In the Czech Republic, a proportion of shared economy is still less developed compared to the advanced countries. The offer of services is too wide, and especially accommodation and transport are dominant, services for households of a craft character and some other professional services are developing. However, they do not cover the area of the Czech Republic equally but they rather concentrate in big cities. Moreover, the biggest platforms that arrange services of shared economy come from abroad. It is possible to expect in the future that in the Czech Republic, development will be as fast as in other countries and shared economy will expand to more and more fields and will bigger and bigger segment of our labour market. The presented study has been processed after being ordered by the Association of Independednt Trade Unions, and their goal was to map the information available so far and to investigate a degree of recognition of the new phenomena of shared economy and to explain possible impacts of its development on labour market. The study is therefore based on detailed researches of local and international materials, results of carried investigations and it also monitors the considerations and reflections about the topic which take place in the Czech Republic and abroad. The first chapter contains a specification of the term and main elements of shared economy. It takes a closer look into a function of digital platforms, their spectrum of work and the types of business modules they use. It pays a special attention to the platforms that mediate work / services and therefore they directly influence the labour market in specific segments. The second chapter describes how shared economy impacts labour market. Besides clarifying some basic connections on general level including a description of benefits and opportunities which the online platforms create in terms of an increase in employment as well as potential risks for workers, it also takes a close look at the individual characteristics of online labour market. First of all, engagement of online market interfering into individual segments of economy is monitored as far as the scope and frequency of using online labour platforms is concerned. There is also an overview of the categories and