Platform Work in Italy Has Become a Trap for the Vulnerable

KEY INSIGHTS - A workforce transformed: Representative survey data show Italian platform workers shifting from young side-earners in 2018 to older, increasingly income-dependent workers by 2021, after the Covid-19 pandemic. - Four profiles, two axes: Sheltered youths, accumulationists, vulnerable jobseekers, and a precarious workforce differ by employment status and by dependence on platform earnings. - Worse than other non-standard work: Platform workers face the most unstable contracts and the deepest economic vulnerability, with two-thirds postponing medical treatment in 2021. - Caregiving and dependence go together: Workers who rely on platform income often carry childcare and care responsibilities that work-life policy should address instead. - Monitor, protect, and stabilise: Policy should track platform work systematically, strengthen social protection for non-standard workers and jobseekers, and restore stable employment.