How Can Digital Sharing Economy Reduce Unemployment?

Abstract

The primary prerequisite for the development of a collaborative economy is the rapid growth of information technologies. A new way of communication, together with online platforms, created Internet marketplaces, which enabled the meeting of supply and demand in the virtual space. However, such a conversion of the economy is necessarily accompanied by extensive transformations on the labor market. We investigated the impact of digitalization on the labor market via the correlation between Internet users and unemployment on the European market. Based on data set we identified statistically significant effects. However, the value of the correlation coefficient could be increased not only by accelerating digitalization but also by investing in overcoming the language barrier in a multicultural Europe.