In advanced and emerging economies alike, individuals are struggling to find work andbuild careers that make use of their skills and capabilities. The strains in global labormarkets have been worsening for decades, and the challenges have been magnified in theaftermath of the global recession. In many countries, concerns about employment havebeen exacerbated by long-term trends of stagnant wage growth and automation. But atthe same time, there has been a constant refrain from employers about the difficulties offinding talent with the right skills. The growing use of online talent platforms may begin toaddress these problems—and even to swing the pendulum slightly in favor of workers byempowering them with broader choices, more mobility, and more flexibility. These tools arefundamentally altering the way individuals go about searching for work and the way manyemployers approach hiring.
The power of a digital platform is not always apparent until it reaches a certain critical mass.Online talent platforms appear to be approaching exactly that sort of tipping point. As theseplatforms rapidly expand the size of their user networks and the volume of data they cansynthesize, the cumulative benefits are growing larger. We believe there is potential for onlinetalent platforms to create real macroeconomic impact in the years ahead—and as thesetechnologies continue to evolve, they may change the world of work in ways that we canonly begin to imagine today. This research aims to build a deeper understanding of howthese platforms can affect labor markets, although it does not attempt to address the manybroader issues affecting employment prospects, including wage stagnation, automation,and aggregate demand.
This project builds on a body of previous McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) research studieson labor markets, including The world at work: Jobs, pay, and skills for 3.5 billion people;Help wanted: The future of work in advanced economies; and An economy that works:Job creation and America’s future. It also continues our efforts to analyze the economicimpact of the Internet and new digital technologies, which has formed the basis of recentMGI reports on topics such as big data, open data, social technologies, and the Internetof Things.
