Digitalisation of the economy and its impact on labour markets —

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<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 15
Christophe Degryse How will states adopt <strong>the</strong>ir tax policies to <strong>the</strong> digital <strong>economy</strong>? Will <strong>the</strong>y still find ways <strong>of</strong> financing <strong>the</strong>ir social security systems? And how will <strong>the</strong>y manage to regulate this completely trans-nationalised sector? And what is Europe doing about all this? 16 WP 2016.02
Page 2 and 3: Digitalisation <st
Page 4: Contents Introduction .............
Page 7 and 8: Christophe Degryse — with regard
Page 9 and 10: Christophe Degryse have been overth
Page 11 and 12: Christophe Degryse transition from
Page 13 and 14: Christophe Degryse organisation. So
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Page 19 and 20: Christophe Degryse — job destruct
Page 21 and 22: Christophe Degryse unquestionably g
Page 23 and 24: Christophe Degryse numerous new job
Page 25 and 26: Christophe Degryse And what about E
Page 27 and 28: Christophe Degryse find the
Page 29 and 30: Christophe Degryse 2015) 25 . Some
Page 31 and 32: Christophe Degryse And so it is cle
Page 33 and 34: Christophe Degryse work on request,
Page 35 and 36: Christophe Degryse Figure 2 Classif
Page 37 and 38: Christophe Degryse In the</
Page 39 and 40: Christophe Degryse Tools? Some auth
Page 41 and 42: Christophe Degryse access to all te
Page 43 and 44: Christophe Degryse 2.2.5 Inequality
Page 45 and 46: Christophe Degryse 2.2.6 Health <st
Page 47 and 48: Christophe Degryse More broadly, th
Page 49 and 50: Christophe Degryse this study that
Page 51 and 52: Christophe Degryse Conclusion <stro
Page 53 and 54: Christophe Degryse Appendix Example
Page 55 and 56: Christophe Degryse research current
Page 57 and 58: Christophe Degryse According to IG
Page 59 and 60: Christophe Degryse — A digital wo
Page 61 and 62: Christophe Degryse The action plan
Page 63 and 64: Christophe Degryse 2.8 France Usine
Page 65 and 66: Christophe Degryse and</str
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Christophe Degryse 2.10 Luxembourg
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Christophe Degryse 2.13 Portugal Pr
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Christophe Degryse — to ensure di
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Christophe Degryse In concluding <s
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Christophe Degryse Would it be rele
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Christophe Degryse References Airbn
Page 79 and 80:
Christophe Degryse Groves P., Kayya
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Christophe Degryse Sohnemann (2015)
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