E-work and beyond, new ways of working and the use of Internet-based services as an opportunity and challenge for the labour market and policy. STAR research will assess the current state of development towards an Internet-based labour market based upon a clear theoretical foundation.

"See also our Executive Briefings on this Topic".

This report will present an examination of the Internet's significance for job seeking, recruitment, job matching and work performance. It will be based on an assessment of the technology's potentials and shortcomings for liberating labour market transactions from spatial and functional constraints, and on interviews with labour market experts, secondary data analysis and new data collection. The report will provide an overview of the current size, shape and, where possible, historical development of the market for Internet-based job exchanges in Germany and a selection of other countries.

This report will investigate a small number of selected sectors that have been identified as major ICT application fields and the virtualisation of labour market transactions. The focus will be on successful applications to increase the efficiency of labour markets and on the limitations of electronic mediation. The empirical basis for this report is interviews with human resource managers (or managing directors in case of small organisations), employees and freelancers and decision-makers in Internet-based job and project exchanges.

This report will synthesise the findings of STAR research during the first year assessing the significance of Internet-based labour market transactions in comparison with traditional and alternative transaction modes; generalise from the case studies by considering the circumstances under which the segments of the economy may be affected by a partial or complete virtualisation of labour market transactions; and, develop conclusions with respect to how national and supranational policy-making should react to the challenges posed by a virtualisation of labour markets and the technologically enabled commodification of work.

The most successful companies in selling and procuring online appear to be the one applying many kinds of ICTs as well as those that are comprehensively conducting e-business, i.e. the "multi-practitioners". This report presents the results of an analysis based on a survey conducted in five countries covering a total of 2300 establishments. The aim is to understand the determinants of success in selling and procuring online.

Issue Report No. 36
More Yo-yos, Pendulums and Nomads: Trends of Mobile and Multi-location Work in the Information Society

This report provides a discussion of categories, applications and implications of mobile work. It structures the field and present a state-of-the- art overview of research on mobile work. The case studies try to draw on mobile work practices of individuals in different countries, preferably from the countries represented in the STAR consortium.

Issue Report No. 37
Mobile and Multi-Location Work in the European Union - Empirical Evidence from Selected Surveys

The study allows an analysis of the perspectives of both individual workers and companies on mobile work. The indicators concern the socio-demographic characteristics of workers (such as profession, age and gender) and the structural data for companies (such as industry sector and size). Statistical methods have been used to identify relations between mobile work practice on the one hand and work outcomes as well as e-business impacts on the other.

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