Hybrid Employment in Platform Work: New Insights into the Realities of Cloud Workers' Lives

Barbara Haas, Dominik Klaus, Maddalena Lamura,and Marcel Bilger wrote the chapter“Hybrid Employment and Financial Dependency Among German-Speaking Cloud Workers. Results of a Mixed-Methods Study on OnlinePlatform Work.”. In it, the authors examine how digital platforms use algorithmic processes to organize global labor markets with low transaction costs. The focus is on the perspectives of cloud workers who perform various tasks online. The study shows that hybrid forms of employment are widespread and closely linked to financial dependence on platform work. Whether cloud workers take on additional paid work, pursue further education, or provide care work depends heavily on their income. The study is based on an online survey (n = 1,843) and supplementary qualitative interviews (n = 30).