Beyond the usual suspects: Invisible labour(ers) in futures of work

Abstract

AbstractInvisible labour exists within all forms of work. In looking to the future of work (FoW), this article reviews the literature on two separate examples; digital work and the 4IR, to uncover invisible labour within these futures. The focus of this article remains on paid work but recognises that ‘employed’ does not correlate with visible. In contributing to feminist labour geography, this review aims to collate, regroup and evaluate the literature on the FoW in a way which recognises ‘invisible labourers’ through redefining ‘work’ and expanding our perception of the ‘workplace’. It does so in three parts. First, feminist labour geography literature is reviewed to situate the article within its call to broaden the definition of ‘work’. Second, the review addresses digital work and the gig economy, to establish which labourers are receiving the most current academic attention and are, therefore, visible. Feminist literature on work and labourers within unrecognised economic spaces is explored through the example of digital sex work to draw on the concept of ‘invisible labour’ in digital FoW. Third, literature on technologies of the 4IR and labour will be reviewed, with particular reference to the global north bias in FoW studies. Finally, the review will apply the regrouping of the literature to the impending wave of automation in the global garment industry. The article identifies a risk of further invisibalising already precarious and marginalised garment workers and the FoW narrative moves beyond low‐skill labour. Highlighting the wider impacts on the FoW, beyond technology itself, this article calls for the labour geography literature to recognise the shift in our conception of ‘industry’ and women's experience of work within it to encompass invisible labourers' roles which are created, mediated and maintained by new technologies.