OTC: A Digital Stepping Stone, or a Dead End Path?

This article analyses the effects of individual characteristics on the probability of leaving part-time unemployment. The results show that it cannot be unreservedly asserted that part-time work offers access to the core labour market. Among the part-time unemployed, there are great variations in the degree to which they are likely to leave part-time unemployment. A concentration of labour market policy activities on the part-time unemployed who are least likely to succeed in finding full-time employment can, therefore, be expected to have positive consequences from both equity and efficiency points of view. In this respect, part-time unemployed women, persons with work-related disabilities and persons with temporary employment come to the forefront. The article shows that the likelihood of finding a full-time job is certainly not great for persons belonging to these groups. For many of them, part-time job is not a stepping stone but rather a dead end on the labour market.

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Stepping Stone or Dead End? The Effect of the EITC on Earnings Growth

National Tax Journal ◽

10.17310/ntj.2009.2.06 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 62 (2) ◽

pp. 329-346 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Molly Dahl ◽

Thomas DeLeire ◽

Jonathan Schwabish

Keyword(s):

Earnings Growth ◽

Stepping Stone ◽

Dead End

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Stepping Stone or Dead End? The Ambiguities of Platform-Mediated Domestic Work under Conditions of Austerity. Comparative Landscapes of Austerity and the Gig Economy: New York and Berlin

Working in the Context of Austerity ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781529208672.003.0003 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 49-70

Author(s):

Niels van Doorn

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

New York City ◽

Venture Capital ◽

Business Model ◽

York City ◽

Domestic Work ◽

Stepping Stone ◽

Gig Economy ◽

Dead End ◽

Global Patterns

This chapter examines some of the ways that nationally and locally distinct conditions of neoliberal austerity shape how people come to take up work in the platform-mediated gig economies of New York City and Berlin. Focusing on gig workers' experiences with platforms providing domestic cleaning service, the chapter analyses the experience of four young platform workers and concludes that global institutional phenomena such as 'the gig economy' and 'austerity' have local platform-specific iterations as well as larger global patterns. While it is true that the gig economy's business model is predicated on austerity logics, to the extent that its two central tenets are risk offloading and continuous accounting, platform companies are also notorious for burning through massive amounts of venture capital in their quest to achieve scale. The immediate impact of this pursuit on many gig workers has been one of relative — and short-lived — splendour, as they eagerly collect sign-up bonuses and enjoy initial payouts higher than any previously received wage. Platform labour's link to austerity is thus not a straightforward matter, as it is rife with ambivalence and contradictions.

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