Digitalisation of the economy and its impact on labour markets —

<strong>Digitalisation</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>economy</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>its</strong> <strong>impact</strong> on labour markets
services; etc. As pointed out in a quote in <strong>the</strong> Financial Times (2015b): ‘The
culture at Uber is both super aggressive <strong>and</strong> incredibly naïve. The executives
are very young … <strong>the</strong>y just buy into <strong>the</strong> “change <strong>the</strong> world” thing <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>y were
not thinking about <strong>the</strong> consequences’.
As pointed out by Jain (2015), ‘These companies have chosen to grow first <strong>and</strong>
ask compliance-related questions later, <strong>and</strong> so far <strong>the</strong>ir strategy has worked.
Their massive war chest <strong>of</strong> funding has bought <strong>the</strong>m loads <strong>of</strong> lobbying,
litigation <strong>and</strong> PR power.’ As we shall see, <strong>the</strong>se fait accompli strategies are
likely to have a major <strong>impact</strong> on <strong>the</strong> traditional payment <strong>and</strong> regulation models
directly affecting workers.
More broadly, for <strong>the</strong> European <strong>economy</strong> as a whole, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> questions
arising ever more acutely is <strong>the</strong> following: from where, in this new context, will
European growth come? 11 What will be <strong>the</strong> future <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> European industrial
fabric? ‘Will German SMEs turn into slaves <strong>of</strong> a digital platform <strong>the</strong>y can no
longer control? Will we see <strong>the</strong> rise <strong>of</strong> unassailable digital monopolies, immune
to competition due to strong network effects? Will value creation for <strong>the</strong> most
part quit Germany because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> platformization process?’: <strong>the</strong>se are some <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> questions asked by Ansgar Baums (2015). Having <strong>its</strong>elf deindustrialised by
relocating to Asia, will Europe now make <strong>its</strong>elf dependent on data held in <strong>the</strong>
United States?
This is a very real risk according to Sohnemann’s ra<strong>the</strong>r trenchant line <strong>of</strong>
argument: Europe is on <strong>the</strong> point <strong>of</strong> becoming marginalised in <strong>the</strong> race for <strong>the</strong>
digital <strong>economy</strong>. ‘Of course, <strong>the</strong>re are many European start-ups but <strong>the</strong>y <strong>of</strong>ten
do not have <strong>the</strong> same funding as American companies, nor <strong>the</strong> same deep
technological approach <strong>and</strong> support’ (Sohnemann 2015), on account in
particular <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> excessive fragmentation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> European market on both <strong>the</strong>
cultural <strong>and</strong> linguistic front as well as from <strong>the</strong> financing st<strong>and</strong>point. Setting
this observation in a medium-term perspective, Atkinson is quite categorical:
‘After a long period during which Europe was closing <strong>the</strong> productivity gap with
<strong>the</strong> US, since 1995 that gap has widened every year <strong>and</strong> shows no signs <strong>of</strong>
narrowing. (…) One key reason productivity has not grown as fast as in <strong>the</strong> US
is that European nations have not been able to take as much advantage <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
ICT revolution as has <strong>the</strong> US’ (Atkinson 2015).
Finally, <strong>the</strong> European states, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> European Union <strong>its</strong>elf, do not seem
equipped to confront <strong>the</strong> dazzling flare-up <strong>of</strong> this digital <strong>economy</strong>. To return
to <strong>the</strong> emblematic example <strong>of</strong> Uber, whereas some EU member states seek to
exhibit a form <strong>of</strong> national, or even regional, defiance to <strong>the</strong> challenges launched
by this company that is <strong>its</strong>elf prepared to remain on <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>fensive in <strong>the</strong> large
numbers <strong>of</strong> legal battles already underway (in France, Spain, Germany,
Belgium), o<strong>the</strong>r member states are cooperating fully with it (see in particular
<strong>the</strong> example <strong>of</strong> Estonia).
11. In this literature review we will not deal with questions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> content <strong>of</strong> this growth or <strong>of</strong> <strong>its</strong>
environmental or climate <strong>impact</strong>.
WP 2016.02
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