Despite extensive research on migrants and the platform economy, few systematic comparisons exist between migrant and non-migrant workers across diverse migrant groups and types of platform work. This article draws on representative survey data from 14 European Union Member States, which shows that, on average, migrants are approximately 20 per cent more likely to engage in platform work. However, almost half of this difference is explained by socio-demographic characteristics. Ultimately, migrant workers who are more likely to engage in platform work are those who are more vulnerable based on their group-level characteristics and are at greater risk of being disadvantaged in the traditional labour market.

Germany has historically received a substantial inflow of immigrants from Poland. Polish workers are the second-largest foreign employment group in Germany and contribute substantially to the German economy. In this article, we draw on a large administrative dataset to analyse the wage structure of Polish employees and consider a wide range of factors, including individual and firm characteristics, labour market performance measures and potential network effects. We also account for spatial selectivity, distinguishing between urban, semi-urban and peripheral regions. We conclude that, when compared with Poland, Germany remains attractive to Polish workers – particularly to those who are lower-skilled. Polish employees earn less than their German counterparts, suggesting that wage increases may be a potential means of retaining Polish workers in Germany. Network-related characteristics indicate competition effects among Polish workers.

This article examines how inequalities in traditional labour markets shape experiences and outcomes on platform work. The research applies Acker’s framework of inequality regimes, with a focus on gender, to a qualitative case study to analyse freelance platform work, specifically the provision of legal services. Tracking research participants over a period of time, the analysis demonstrates that structural disadvantages within the traditional labour market of the legal profession are not simply echoed but amplified in platform work, challenging claims that platform work can act as a leveller.

Faced with major socio-economic challenges, high unemployment and poverty levels and slow economic growth, sub-Saharan Africa is vulnerable to climate change. We examine the effects of climate shocks on youth employment and employment in agriculture, manufacturing and services. We apply the difference-in-differences method to panel data and find that rising temperatures cause job losses among young people and in the agricultural sector. We also find that high temperatures drive the reallocation of labour from agriculture towards manufacturing and services.

In this article, we examine how technology is associated with self-employment dynamics using worker-level data from 30 European countries. We find that, while employees exposed to labour-augmenting technologies are more likely to move from paid employment to solo self-employment and vice-versa, employees exposed to labour-saving technologies are less likely to become self-employed. We identify important differences with respect to workers’ socio-demographic characteristics. The results suggest that, while labour-augmenting technologies promote workers’ mobility and reduce the risk of unemployment for high-skilled workers, they have the opposite effect for low-skilled workers. Furthermore, labour-saving technologies worsen labour market outcomes particularly for low-skilled and routine workers.

This article proposes a measure of educational mismatch based on a novel definition of schooling that takes into account the different levels of skills acquired by individuals with the same education. It is assumed that less (more) able individuals could compensate for their skill deficit (surplus) with more (less) education, and PIAAC data are used to analyse the substitution between skill and educational mismatches in terms of wages. We use the proposed measure to assess the level of effective educational mismatch in a set of countries. When accounting for workers’ real skills, we find that overeducation tends to drop, the difference between observed and effective educational mismatch varying by country.

Conceptions of sustainable work advanced by United Nations bodies, including the ILO, promote the pursuit of green and inclusive economies. Through a decolonial-inspired narrative analysis of textual and audiovisual sources relating to mining-affected communities in Brazil and Canada, we examine how these mainstream conceptions are taken up and challenged on the ground. We analyse these narratives against several features that a decolonial conception of sustainable work might contain. While decolonial conceptions centre on care for people and the land, ecological dependence, reverence for life and reproductive work, mainstream notions of sustainable work are often instrumentalized to legitimize practices that are irreconcilable with decolonial visions.

This article examines the preconditions for successful implementation of multi‐employer collective bargaining in countries lacking supportive institutions. It presents cases from the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia, three liberal market economies where multi‐employer bargaining has either survived in some sectors or where there have been recent attempts to strengthen it. The findings highlight the importance of both “regulatory” institutions (e.g. laws) and “cognitive” institutions (e.g. social norms) to ensure that, first, employment relations actors have the power and resources to support multi‐employer bargaining in practice and, second, workers and employers accept this form of wage‐setting as legitimate.

In response to a renewed focus on multi‐employer bargaining in policy recommendations and policymaking, this article analyses and discusses coordination in the Danish multi‐employer bargaining system. Focusing on two main dimensions of coordination – horizontal, between various key actors at a centralized national level, and vertical, between national and local actors – I find that several interwoven processes of coordination strengthen the multi‐employer bargaining system, offering potential benefits for both employers and employees. However, it takes considerable resources to be part of a highly coordinated multi‐employer bargaining system and to harvest the benefits. Accordingly, various capacities among key actors are decisive for a well‐functioning multi‐employer bargaining system.