International Labour Review

"Automation does not necessarily make recessions more harmful for workers."

Joanna Siwińska-Gorzelak from University of Warsaw found robot adoption can cushion unemployment during downturns. 🤖📊

Read more ⬇️
bit.ly/3Mqnu2H

Do robots make recessions worse for workers? 🤖📉

Our latest research revisits #OkunsLaw and finds that higher automation is linked to smaller rises in unemployment during downturns.

New evidence on automation & employment dynamics ⬇️

bit.ly/3Mqnu2H

#AcaSky

Most gig riders don’t fit legal labels.

81% occupy a grey zone, economically dependent yet partially autonomous.

Read why legal protections must evolve beyond existing binaries ⤵️

bit.ly/4qzhnHe

🛵 Are gig workers employees? Contractors? Or something in between?

Our latest research finds most platform riders in #China fall into a legal grey zone, i.e., economically dependent yet partially autonomous.

Read more ⤵️
bit.ly/4qzhnHe

🎉 Félicitations à Mathis et Mathilde

Using 🇫🇷 labour force survey, Mathis & Mathilde complicate the idea of “good green jobs” as job quality varies, especially by skill level.

We’ve published this research as #OA from @clerseumr8019.bsky.social @univlille.bsky.social in Issue 1 for 2026.

Read ⤵️

🎉 Big congratulations to @wzwysen.bsky.social on this new
paper in our Issue 1 for 2026!

Using 🇪🇺-wide data, authors find migrants are ~20% more likely to do platform work, especially in delivery & ride-hailing, reflecting labour market vulnerability, not preference.

Early view now in English ⤵️

👩‍👧‍👦🌍 How do care crises shape labour outcomes...❓

New ILR research, published #OA with @openlibhums.org, examines gendered employment effects of COVID-19 among informal workers in rural Viet Nam

Now available in English, French & Spanish ⤵️

🧵(8/8) 📚 Also in this issue: three book reviews on labour institutions during COVID-19, informality in Ecuador, and labour law as economic policy.

👉 Browse the ILR's latest issue, now #OpenAccess via @openlibhums.org.

🔖 ilo.org/ilr

Responding to the challenge of AI: Retrieving human intelligence through labour In this article, we argue that both the exaggerated fascination with, and fear of, artificial intelligence (AI) stem from a flawed understanding of human intelligence (HI) – one that fails to retrieve...

🧵 (7/8) Rethinking #AI and work

Jordi Agustí-Panareda & Jaume Agustí-Cullell (@iiiacsic.bsky.social) argue for reclaiming human intelligence through labour, challenging narrow visions of AI and the future of work.

🔗 bit.ly/4pnsMcs

#HumanCentredWork

An incomplete <em>double movement</em>: Spain’s legislative strategy for platform courier reclassification Digital labour platforms, which have long operated outside conventional employment frameworks, are now facing a regulatory drive. Spain seems to be at the forefront of this international effort, notab...

🧵(6/8) Regulating platform labour

@t-vieira.bsky.social (@eui-eu.bsky.social) examines Spain’s Ley Rider, finding stronger protections alongside new forms of control, outsourcing, and algorithmic management.

🔗 bit.ly/3N3mAZP

#PlatformRegulation #WorkersRights

In search of quasi-subordinate workers in China: A typology of gig riders by economic dependency and subordination The employment status of platform workers has generated debate both in China and internationally. Drawing on legal thresholds from selected developed countries and statistical indicators developed by ...

🧵(5/8) Who are “quasi-subordinate” gig workers in China?

Wei Tu & Xueyu Wang (@utoronto.ca) map economic dependency and subordination among delivery riders, finding most fall outside the employee/self-employed divide.

🔗 bit.ly/4bgJK90

#PlatformWork

The COVID-19 pandemic and the intertwined care crisis: Evidence of gendered employment effects on informal workers in rural Viet Nam Substantial informal employment and excessive unpaid care burdens on women are characteristic of developing economies. This article takes a gender lens to examine the employment effects of the COVID-1...

🧵 (4/8) Care, informality, and crisis.

Minh Tam Thi Bui, Thai Quyen Bui & Tuan Thanh Nguyen show how COVID-19 deepened gendered employment losses among informal workers in rural Viet Nam.

🔗 bit.ly/3Lwy0EW

#CareEconomy #GenderEquality

The impact of diversity on the performance of work teams: A global study This study examines the impact of several diversity dimensions and characteristics in work teams (e.g. nationality, first language, team size and managerial function) on their performance. We use step...

🧵 (3/8) Team diversity and performance

Tomáš Michalička, Drahoslav Lančarič, Dimuth Nambuge & Michal Munk analyse 900+ teams in 39 countries, showing how nationality, language, and experience shape team outcomes.

🔗 bit.ly/3N4ials

#Diversity #WorkTeams

Exploring the impact of automation on employment during expansions and contractions: An examination of Okun’s Law This article examines the impact of robotization on the short-term correlation between employment and output. We estimate the Okun’s Law relationship utilizing panel data from 35 OECD countries for th...

🧵 (2/8) Automation and recessions

Does automation protect jobs during downturns?

Michał Brzozowski & Joanna Siwińska-Gorzelak revisit #OkunsLaw across 35 OECD countries and find that automation can cushion job losses in recessions.

🔗 bit.ly/4aLsPvi

#Automation #FutureOfWork

What protects jobs during downturns? Who is covered in the platform economy? How should labour law respond to AI?

These questions are at the heart of our latest issue, featuring new evidence from OECD countries, China, Viet Nam, and Europe.

📖 Read Volume 164, Issue 4
👉 ilo.org/ilr

🧵 (1/8)

La Reseña también está disponible en Español en Revista Internacional del Trabajo 144 (4): doi.org/10.16995/ilr...

📖 How did wage-employment institutions help France navigate the COVID-19 crisis?

Jean-Pascal Higelé reviews "Face au Covid, l’enjeu du salariat" (ed. Claude Didry) in our finale issue for 2025.

🌍 Read now in English, French & Spanish via @openlibhums.org

Platforms as inequality regimes: Researching legal services This article examines how inequalities in traditional labour markets shape experiences and outcomes on platform work. The research applies Acker’s framework of inequality regimes, with a focus on gend...

Want the full picture behind these findings? 📘

The article by Debra Howcroft & Claire Mumford is published in our Issue 3 for 2025.

🔗 Read the full article: bit.ly/4hcSKwV

💬 “Women averaged £48 an hour… men £99.”

Claire Mumford (@unilancashire.bsky.social) shows how gendered assumptions of value shape platform earnings, with men leveraging past career advantages while women face persistent pay gaps. ⚖️📊

💬 “Platforms operate in the shadow of the traditional labour market… inequalities are amplified.”

Debra Howcroft (@manchester.ac.uk) reminds us that gendered constraints don’t disappear online; they follow workers onto legal service platforms. ⚖️📲✨

🌐 How do digital labour platforms shape inequality in legal services?

The latest #InsightsfromILR blog uncovers how gendered inequalities persist on platforms, even when they seem less hierarchical.

📉 Persistent gender pay gaps
👩‍💻 Women earning less & leaving sooner

🔗 Read: bit.ly/3XMHgr2

Bargaining on the front line: What role did collective bargaining play in protecting/advancing the interests of front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic? Drawing on 12 case studies across 10 countries of how trade unions and collective bargaining institutions supported front-line workers in healthcare, social care and food retail, this article finds th...

📢New article!

WEI members Eva Herman, Jill Rubery, Isabel Tavora and Alejandro Castillo along with colleague Abbie Winton (University of Leeds) have published a new article in the International Labour Review!

Have a read of the article here 👉 en.ilr-rit.org/article/pubi...

‼️ A timely contribution from colleagues at @workequalities.bsky.social in our Issue 3 for 2025: A powerful analysis of how collective bargaining supported front line workers through the challenges of #COVID19.

An essential read for scholars working on labour institutions and worker voice 🏢📣

The joint impact of global value chains and technological exposure on job quality and wages in Europe We use a micro-level dataset for workers from 22 European countries to assess whether technological exposure affects the relationship between global value chains (GVCs) and working conditions, quantif...

🔖 Read the full article published in our Issue 3 for 2025, now #OA and available in English, French & Spanish.

👉 bit.ly/3XEb74Q

🌐 Dagmara Nikulin shares insights from 22 🇪🇺 countries to explain the current limits of technological transformation in the world of work 👇

💬 Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz explains: “We challenge the notion that 🇪🇺 integration into global production or rapid adoption of AI will automatically upgrade working conditions”

🌍 How are global value chains and digital tech shaping work in Europe?

Our new #InsightsfromILR blog breaks it down.

📉 Lower wages
📈 Small gains in job quality
🤖 Tech exposure with limited impact

🔗Read the full blogpost: bit.ly/4oLwcGp

An incomplete <em>double movement</em>: Spain’s legislative strategy for platform courier reclassification Digital labour platforms, which have long operated outside conventional employment frameworks, are now facing a regulatory drive. Spain seems to be at the forefront of this international effort, notab...

New publication in the @ilr-rit.bsky.social / International Labour Review: An incomplete double movement: Spain’s legislative strategy for platform courier reclassification by Tiago Vieira: doi.org/10.16995/ilr...

I explore how Spain’s efforts to bring platform couriers into standard employment relations have affected their working and living conditions (#LeyRider but not only), and how workers’ representatives and public authorities have (not) been able to leverage the new right to #algorithmic transparency.

Felicidades, Tiago! 🎉

Forthcoming in our final issue of 2025, this study conducted @eui-eu.bsky.social, helps understand 🇪🇸's efforts to re-embed platform couriers within standard employment relationships.

🌟 Supporting early-career scholarship remains central to our mission.

📚 Read: bit.ly/4nYk4kf