Deliverable IV.I: Draft final report: Skills Formation and Skills Matching in Online Platform Work: Policies and Practices for Promoting Crowdworkers’ Continuous Learning (CrowdLearn)

A growing number of Europeans are earning some or all of their income from work mediated through digital platforms. This includes so-called “crowdwork” such as online freelance work, in which self-employed workers work remotely for clients through online labour platforms, in projects ranging from data entry tasks to specialized software development and creative work. The CrowdLearn research project examined how crowdworkers develop their skills, and how online labour platforms match skills supply with demand, with a view to drawing lessons for European skills and education policy. Data collection included interviews with 77 crowdworkers and 25 representatives of stakeholder organizations, such as platform owners, social partner associations, online learning providers, and policymakers. We also surveyed 1,001 crowdworkers, who were located across six European countries and who worked on four major online freelancing platforms. The main findings and recommendations are as follows.