Irregular migrants and precarity in the Dutch Food Delivery sector

This research with food delivery workers with an irregular status in the Netherlands underscores the paradox of platform-based labour. While the job offers flexibility, immediate income and is an important part of the arrival infrastructure for newcomers who are looking to survive economically, the job also entrenches insecurity, dependency, precarity and high risks. It was found that the variety within people’s legal status and the way the job is organized results in various levels of precarity for workers. The findings also highlight that migrant workers in the platform economy operate in an online-only, highly individualized labour structure with limited opportunities for collective action or worker solidarity making it difficult to change working condition violations.

The report is written at a time where the food delivery sector is increasingly regulated in the Netherlands, resulting in more precarity for those who cannot fulfil all the required requirements around regulations. The study outlines how work in the platform economy affects not only migrants’ financial situations, but also their personal and family lives, as many workers are caught in a cycle of debt repayment that delays their ability to achieve social mobility or return to their home countries. Short and long term goals of workers differ depending on the life phase and the migration background as well as family situations.