Introduction
New Types of Labour: Platform work across Europe
This dashboard section presents descriptive evidence on new types of labour, with a specific focus on platform work across Europe and selected neighbouring countries. Platform work refers to labour-market activities mediated through digital platforms, including online, local, service-based, task-based, and intermediation activities.
The analysis is based on the TRAILS-I survey and examines whether respondents engaged in platform work during the last 12 months, how diverse their platform engagement was, and whether platform work functioned as a main, supplementary, or occasional source of income. The purpose is to provide an accessible overview of how platform work is distributed across countries, regions, and population groups.
A key premise of this section is that platform work should not be treated as a single, uniform category. Platform work can represent very different labour-market realities: a primary income source for some workers, a supplementary income stream for others, an occasional activity, or a flexible way to monetise time, assets, or skills. For this reason, the dashboards distinguish between different modes of participation rather than presenting only one aggregate measure.
The results should be interpreted as weighted descriptive patterns. They show where platform work is more or less prevalent and which population groups are more likely to participate in different ways. They do not establish causal relationships, nor do they directly measure job quality, employment status, autonomy, working conditions, or social protection.
What do we mean by platform work?
Platform work covers work or income-generating activities organised or mediated through digital platforms. These may include online tasks, freelance services, local services, delivery or transport-related activities, selling or renting goods and assets, accommodation-related services, and other forms of platform intermediation.
In this dashboard section, platform work is examined from the perspective of participation and income relevance. The focus is not only on whether respondents used platforms, but also on how platform work fits into their broader work and income portfolios.
This distinction matters because two respondents may both be classified as platform workers while using platforms in very different ways. One may rely on platform work as a main income source, another may use it to supplement wages from standard employment, while another may engage occasionally or experimentally.
Platform work indicators used in the dashboards
The dashboards use five main indicators of platform work participation:
- Platform work experience in the last 12 months: Measures whether respondents engaged in any form of platform work during the previous year.
- Experience in multiple platform work types: Captures whether respondents participated in more than one type of platform activity, indicating more diversified platform engagement.
- Platform work as the main source of income: Identifies respondents for whom platform work represents the primary income source.
- Platform work as a supplementary source of income: Captures respondents who use platform work as an additional income stream alongside other income sources.
- Platform work as an occasional activity: Measures lighter or intermittent forms of platform participation, where platform work is not necessarily a regular or central labour-market activity.
What you will find in the following pages
The information is organised into a set of thematic pages. Each page examines the same platform work indicators from a different analytical perspective:
- Types of labour on map: Shows the geographical distribution of platform work at country and regional level. The country view provides a broad comparison across national labour markets, while the regional view reveals within-country variation that may be hidden by national averages.
- Gender breakdown by country: Compares platform work participation between male and female respondents across countries and across different modes of participation.
- Age breakdown by country: Shows how platform work varies across age groups, highlighting generational differences in platform participation and income reliance.
- Educational breakdown by country: Examines platform work across low, medium, and high educational attainment groups.
- Income composition by country: Shows how platform work participation varies across income deciles, from the lowest to the highest part of the income distribution.
- Wealth composition by country: Examines platform work across household wealth deciles, capturing a different dimension of socioeconomic position from current income.
Together, these pages allow users to move from broad geographical patterns to more detailed demographic and socioeconomic profiles of platform work.
Reading the dashboards correctly
The charts and maps present weighted descriptive averages based on self-reported platform work participation in the last 12 months. Higher values indicate that a larger share of respondents in a given country, region, or group reported the relevant form of platform work.
The indicators should not be interpreted as measures of job quality or employment protection. For example, a high value for platform work experience does not necessarily mean that platform jobs are stable, well-paid, autonomous, or secure. Similarly, a high value for occasional platform work may reflect flexibility, experimentation, asset use, or temporary income needs rather than long-term labour-market dependence.
Comparisons should also take into account the specific indicator being shown. Platform work as a main source of income represents a much stronger form of reliance than occasional platform work. Supplementary platform work captures income diversification, while multiple platform types capture breadth of engagement across platform activities.
Why new types of labour matter
Platform work is an important example of how labour markets are changing. It challenges traditional distinctions between employment, self-employment, freelance work, occasional work, and asset-based income generation. It also raises questions about skills, income security, labour-market resilience, autonomy, and social protection.
From a skills perspective, platform work is particularly relevant because it often requires workers to combine technical, digital, organisational, communication, and self-management skills. In some cases, platforms may provide opportunities for flexible work, income diversification, and skill use. In other cases, they may be associated with income volatility, fragmented work trajectories, and weaker access to protections.
The TRAILS approach therefore treats platform work as a heterogeneous labour-market phenomenon. The key question is not simply whether platform work exists, but who participates, where participation is concentrated, how strongly workers rely on it, and how it differs across countries, regions, and social groups.
Methodological note
The results are descriptive and should not be interpreted as causal evidence. Differences between countries, regions, or population groups may reflect multiple overlapping factors, including labour-market structure, digital infrastructure, platform availability, regulation, occupational composition, education, income, wealth, age, gender, and household circumstances.
Income and wealth deciles are relative categories. They identify respondents’ position within the income or wealth distribution, but they do not represent common monetary thresholds across all countries. The same decile may therefore correspond to different absolute income or wealth levels depending on national context.
The categories “main source of income”, “supplementary source of income”, and “occasional activity” describe the role of platform work in respondents’ income and work portfolios. They do not directly indicate whether platform work is voluntary, necessity-driven, high-quality, low-quality, regulated, or protected.
You may find additional information regarding the data and the methodology used in this report.
