Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), the Tübingen AI Center and Ellis Institute Tübingen have conducted a study that uncovers a mathematical strategy explaining how digital labor platforms can systematically suppress wages. The research, titled “Stochastic Wage Suppression on Gig Platforms and How to Organize Against It,” develops a mathematical model motivated by digital labor markets, including crowdwork, ride-hailing and food delivery. It shows how a buyer that posts prices and can wait for workers to accept them may keep payments very low when some workers are willing to accept tasks at very low prices.
Gig platforms can simply ‘wait out’ workers to slash wages, research reveals
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