Digitalisation of the economy and its impact on labour markets —

Christophe Degryse
— <strong>the</strong> monitoring, control, evaluation <strong>of</strong> workers’ performance (this aspect
will be examined in part 2 <strong>of</strong> this study);
— <strong>the</strong> function <strong>of</strong> those workers (employees, self-employed workers,
undeclared workers) who lack mastery <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> data: will <strong>the</strong>y be reduced
to a role <strong>of</strong> mere tool? Are we to witness a ‘servification’ <strong>of</strong> employment
(a neologism used by Bourdoncle 2014);
— <strong>the</strong> st<strong>and</strong>ardisation <strong>of</strong> a data-led company or even <strong>of</strong> a whole society led
by data <strong>and</strong> rational efficiency;
— <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> personal data: as workers <strong>and</strong> citizens we produce without
realising it millions <strong>of</strong> octets <strong>of</strong> information every day via emails, social
networks, satnav itineraries, research engines, passwords, forms, but
also surveillance cameras, electronic sensors, etc. Increasingly, our
private <strong>and</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional documents are stored in ‘clouds’ whose physical
location is sometimes thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> miles away.
1.4 Will Europe become marginalised?
O<strong>the</strong>r forms <strong>of</strong> corporate challenge are <strong>the</strong> virtually monopolistic position
maintained by <strong>the</strong> financial resources <strong>and</strong> innovation capacity <strong>of</strong> companies
such as Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, LinkedIn, Micros<strong>of</strong>t, <strong>and</strong> so on.
These companies are relatively small in terms <strong>of</strong> staff numbers; yet <strong>the</strong>y are
immense in terms <strong>of</strong> capitalisation – a reflection <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> faith placed by investors
in this new <strong>economy</strong> – <strong>and</strong> global in terms <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir users (Roubini: 3). Their
financial power enables <strong>the</strong>m to buy up, in <strong>the</strong> digital ecosystem, all <strong>the</strong> startups
likely to improve, streng<strong>the</strong>n, develop <strong>the</strong>ir own services (Instagram <strong>and</strong>
WhatsApp bought up by Facebook; Youtube, Dropcam, Uber, Waze, etc.
bought up by Google; Siri, Embark, etc. by Apple; Twitch by Amazon, etc.).
They have a tendency to exp<strong>and</strong> into increasingly diversified sectors – motor
cars, health care, finance, education, music, etc. – while at <strong>the</strong> same time
radically calling into question <strong>the</strong> business model <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> giants. They are in a
position to suck up productivity gains <strong>and</strong> to capture economic rents on a
planetary scale.
On account <strong>of</strong> this tremendous financial <strong>and</strong> lobbying power, <strong>the</strong>y can allow
<strong>the</strong>mselves to operate on <strong>the</strong> frontiers <strong>of</strong> legality: Google <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> digitalisation
<strong>of</strong> books without authors’ or publishers’ agreement, reproduction <strong>and</strong>
circulation <strong>of</strong> press articles without any payment to editors or journalists;
Apple <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> attempt to provide an online music service without payment to
musicians; Airbnb <strong>and</strong> <strong>its</strong> refusal to sanction <strong>the</strong> high numbers <strong>of</strong> Californian
accommodation providers who fail to observe <strong>the</strong> obligation to register with
<strong>the</strong> municipality 9 ; Facebook <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> violation <strong>of</strong> European consumer
protection rules 10 ; Uber <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> assumed illegal exercise <strong>of</strong> passenger transport
9. Le Monde 5/11/2015.
10. From social media service to advertising network - A critical analysis <strong>of</strong> Facebook’s
Revised Policies <strong>and</strong> Terms. https://www.law.kuleuven.be/citip/en/news/item/facebooksrevised-policies-<strong>and</strong>-terms-v1-2.pdf
14 WP 2016.02