{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97477"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97477","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Is technology eating the temporary staffing industry? An analysis of Upwork","abstract":"The rise of web-based work platforms such as Uber has sparked speculation about the potential of these platforms to revolutionize the labor market. This speculation has rarely been accompanied by a data-based explanation of the competitive advantages of web-based work platforms or the mechanisms by which they may impact the labor market. We sought to provide such an explanation by comparing a web-based work platform, Upwork, to the traditional labor market intermediary it best resembles, a temporary staffing agency. We hypothesized that the two would be different and chose to compare them based on three characteristics: composition, wages and revenue, and efficiency. Using data collected from Upwork’s website and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found significant differences in all three characteristics. We analyzed the differences we found for evidence that they provided Upwork with a competitive advantage over traditional temporary staffing agencies. We also asked whether the differences we found indicated how web-based work platforms might impact the labor market as a whole. We concluded that Upwork in its current form is more of an expansion of the temporary staffing industry than a revolutionary force because it allows workers and clients to make contracts that cannot efficiently be made elsewhere. We also suggested avenues for further research.","abstract_html":"The rise of web-based work platforms such as Uber has sparked speculation about the potential of these platforms to revolutionize the labor market. This speculation has rarely been accompanied by a data-based explanation of the competitive advantages of web-based work platforms or the mechanisms by which they may impact the labor market. We sought to provide such an explanation by comparing a web-based work platform, Upwork, to the traditional labor market intermediary it best resembles, a temporary staffing agency. We hypothesized that the two would be different and chose to compare them based on three characteristics: composition, wages and revenue, and efficiency. Using data collected from Upwork’s website and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found significant differences in all three characteristics. We analyzed the differences we found for evidence that they provided Upwork with a competitive advantage over traditional temporary staffing agencies. We also asked whether the differences we found indicated how web-based work platforms might impact the labor market as a whole. We concluded that Upwork in its current form is more of an expansion of the temporary staffing industry than a revolutionary force because it allows workers and clients to make contracts that cannot efficiently be made elsewhere. We also suggested avenues for further research.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Brumm, Francesca"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.H.R.I.R.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Human Res & Industrial Rels","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Weaver, Andrew"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-08-10T19:16:11Z","date_published":"2017-08-10T19:16:11Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:34Z","subjects":["Labor","Gig economy","Web platform","Work","Upwork","Online work","Alternative work"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2017 Francesca Brumm"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97477","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Weaver, Andrew"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Brumm, Francesca"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2017-08-10T19:16:11Z","2017-04-26","2017-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Human Res & Industrial Rels"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.H.R.I.R."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Labor","Gig economy","Web platform","Work","Upwork","Online work","Alternative work"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2017 Francesca Brumm"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97477"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The rise of web-based work platforms such as Uber has sparked speculation about the potential of these platforms to revolutionize the labor market. This speculation has rarely been accompanied by a data-based explanation of the competitive advantages of web-based work platforms or the mechanisms by which they may impact the labor market. We sought to provide such an explanation by comparing a web-based work platform, Upwork, to the traditional labor market intermediary it best resembles, a temporary staffing agency. We hypothesized that the two would be different and chose to compare them based on three characteristics: composition, wages and revenue, and efficiency. Using data collected from Upwork’s website and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found significant differences in all three characteristics. We analyzed the differences we found for evidence that they provided Upwork with a competitive advantage over traditional temporary staffing agencies. We also asked whether the differences we found indicated how web-based work platforms might impact the labor market as a whole. We concluded that Upwork in its current form is more of an expansion of the temporary staffing industry than a revolutionary force because it allows workers and clients to make contracts that cannot efficiently be made elsewhere. We also suggested avenues for further research.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2017-08-10 without embargo terms","The student, Francesca Brumm, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-25 at 14:41.","The student, Francesca Brumm, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2017-04-25 at 16:05.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2017-04-26 at 15:15.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #11052 on 2017-08-10 at 13:46:29","Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T19:16:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 BRUMM-THESIS-2017.pdf: 403099 bytes, checksum: c0ad272815346654a52c1265aad35c1f (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4212 bytes, checksum: 66a9326218803334a79de26f1cc848d3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-26"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Is technology eating the temporary staffing industry? An analysis of Upwork"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Weaver, Andrew"],"dc:creator":["Brumm, Francesca"],"dc:date":["2017-08-10T19:16:11Z","2017-04-26","2017-05"],"dc:description":["The rise of web-based work platforms such as Uber has sparked speculation about the potential of these platforms to revolutionize the labor market. This speculation has rarely been accompanied by a data-based explanation of the competitive advantages of web-based work platforms or the mechanisms by which they may impact the labor market. We sought to provide such an explanation by comparing a web-based work platform, Upwork, to the traditional labor market intermediary it best resembles, a temporary staffing agency. We hypothesized that the two would be different and chose to compare them based on three characteristics: composition, wages and revenue, and efficiency. Using data collected from Upwork’s website and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found significant differences in all three characteristics. We analyzed the differences we found for evidence that they provided Upwork with a competitive advantage over traditional temporary staffing agencies. We also asked whether the differences we found indicated how web-based work platforms might impact the labor market as a whole. We concluded that Upwork in its current form is more of an expansion of the temporary staffing industry than a revolutionary force because it allows workers and clients to make contracts that cannot efficiently be made elsewhere. We also suggested avenues for further research.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2017-08-10 without embargo terms","The student, Francesca Brumm, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-25 at 14:41.","The student, Francesca Brumm, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2017-04-25 at 16:05.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2017-04-26 at 15:15.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #11052 on 2017-08-10 at 13:46:29","Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T19:16:11Z (GMT). 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