Digital Mobility Platforms: Alternative Paths for Labor And Income

Resumen

By enabling new business models, digital platforms are transforming
traditional economy and generating a multitude of
discussions around the globe. Changes experienced by technological
advances are being discussed by governments, private
sector and especially by the academic field. One of the biggest
impacts related to the phenomenon concerns transformation of
labor relations. This article aims to discuss these relationships
through an exploratory research of qualitative nature coupled
with the application of participant observation and semi-structured
interviews. Nine mobility application drivers from the
greater São Paulo (Brasil) region participated in the study. One
of the main findings is that drivers find in these applications a
more interesting work opportunity than in formal markets. For
the sampled interviewees, the ratio of earnings from the platforms
is four times greater than the salaries they used to receive
in their former jobs. These findings cannot be generalized, but
they corroborate a view of applications as an alternative for labor
and income aligned