Metaverse: development prospects for labor relations

Abstract

The article highlights the main theoretical issues related to the legal regulation of labor relations in the labor market, which are evolving within the new digital reality of the metaverse. It is noted that the metaverse is understood as a specific technological system that utilizes a set of technical tools for virtualizing space. The choice of direction depends on current legislation regarding the potential for developing the labor market through the application of high-tech meta labor platforms. The study argues that the growing trend of influence on the international community and the population of Ukraine by this new digital phenomenon of modern society, the metaverse, is significant in the context of realizing the right to work. This, in the future, will allow the use of IT technologies to identify barriers that limit the development of certain labor markets, directions, and integration in service provision. The author presents a visualization of the search for ways to resolve labor relations issues in the labor market under the conditions of the metaverse. The technologies used to create it are evaluated, which have enormous potential in realizing the right to work but also carry numerous risks. The article explores opportunities for improving the legal regulation of labor relations, especially in understanding the unique characteristics of elements where interaction between people occurs through their digital twins (avatars) using information technologies related to their identification and management of these digital avatars. Using existing research, the article proposes the author’s vision of the concept of a meta-labor platform and presents their understanding of meta-labor migration. The article also provides the postulates on which the concept of the modern meta-labor platform is based, indirectly through the ability to work of both meta-employers and meta-employees in the metaverse, given the current necessary technologies and infrastructure. It is suggested that the most crucial factor in transitioning to meta-labor relations is the transformation of the law as a mechanism to help organize renewed social relations. The main method used in the research of this article is the system-structural method, which allows establishing connections between different elements of the meta-labor platform as a complex system and analyzing the patterns generated by the spread of influence on meta-employers and meta-employees. Among the additional ones are used formal-logical, comparative-legal, as well as methods of legal modeling and forecasting.