[UK] ‘Microworkers’ could be earning less than £4 per hour

According to research by the independent thinktank Autonomy, the minimum wage is routinely being denied to workers in the UK engaging in a rapidly growing form of unregulated online labour known as ‘microwork’, SIA reports.

Reporting by The Guardian cites Autonomy’s investigation which focuses on the future of work and researchers at the University of Exeter and the London School of Economics.

The research suggests that thousands of these workers could be earning less than £4 an hour. Microworkers perform simple tasks such as identifying and captioning images to help AI operations, data entry or simply clicking on ads to drive traffic. The industry blossomed during the pandemic as people were forced to work from home. 

A survey of 1,189 UK-based microworkers suggests that - in common with others in the gig economy who are not classified as employees under employment law - the wages of such workers are often below the minimum wage.

The research surveyed 1,189 UK-based workers on three major crowdsourcing platforms: Clickworker, Prolific and Amazon Mechanical Turk.

The majority of microworkers - totalling in the millions - are from countries such as India, Kenya and Venezuela but with wages flatlining in the UK amid a cost of living crisis low wages like these are becoming increasingly attractive for UK workers. Almost two in three said they earn less than £4 an hour under piece-wage terms in which they are paid per task, with 95 per cent making less than the UK minimum wage. 

The real hourly rate is even lower as workers must spend time securing new assignments. Approximately 30 per cent of microworkers said they spend at least half an hour on unpaid activities for every hour of paid work.

The report, however, did acknowledge that easy access to these digital tools enables workers to transform time outside of work into economically productive activity labouring on digital platforms. It also highlighted that some workers appreciate the autonomy and flexibility of microwork and see it as positively contributing to their ability to earn an income.

The research reportedly suggests that 4 out of 5 workers use this type of work to supplement their income and only a fifth have no other form of paid work.

Will Stronge - director of research at Autonomy - said the UK government should “name and shame the companies paying microworkers below the minimum wage” and “unfairly exploiting thousands of microworkers” in an “exploding industry which has zero regulation”. 

Mr Stronge said, “This invisible online workforce deserves better compensation and protections in work.” 

The research noted that microworkers often have no relationship with the people they work for.

The report proposes policies specifically for the microwork sector including ‘finders fees’ and payment for pre-task tests to ensure that microworkers are remunerated for all the time they actually spend working.

Source: SIA

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

According to research by the independent thinktank Autonomy, the minimum wage is routinely being denied to workers in the UK engaging in a rapidly growing form of unregulated online labour known as ‘microwork’, SIA reports.

Reporting by The Guardian cites Autonomy’s investigation which focuses on the future of work and researchers at the University of Exeter and the London School of Economics.

The research suggests that thousands of these workers could be earning less than £4 an hour. Microworkers perform simple tasks such as identifying and captioning images to help AI operations, data entry or simply clicking on ads to drive traffic. The industry blossomed during the pandemic as people were forced to work from home. 

A survey of 1,189 UK-based microworkers suggests that - in common with others in the gig economy who are not classified as employees under employment law - the wages of such workers are often below the minimum wage.

The research surveyed 1,189 UK-based workers on three major crowdsourcing platforms: Clickworker, Prolific and Amazon Mechanical Turk.

The majority of microworkers - totalling in the millions - are from countries such as India, Kenya and Venezuela but with wages flatlining in the UK amid a cost of living crisis low wages like these are becoming increasingly attractive for UK workers. Almost two in three said they earn less than £4 an hour under piece-wage terms in which they are paid per task, with 95 per cent making less than the UK minimum wage. 

The real hourly rate is even lower as workers must spend time securing new assignments. Approximately 30 per cent of microworkers said they spend at least half an hour on unpaid activities for every hour of paid work.

The report, however, did acknowledge that easy access to these digital tools enables workers to transform time outside of work into economically productive activity labouring on digital platforms. It also highlighted that some workers appreciate the autonomy and flexibility of microwork and see it as positively contributing to their ability to earn an income.

The research reportedly suggests that 4 out of 5 workers use this type of work to supplement their income and only a fifth have no other form of paid work.

Will Stronge - director of research at Autonomy - said the UK government should “name and shame the companies paying microworkers below the minimum wage” and “unfairly exploiting thousands of microworkers” in an “exploding industry which has zero regulation”. 

Mr Stronge said, “This invisible online workforce deserves better compensation and protections in work.” 

The research noted that microworkers often have no relationship with the people they work for.

The report proposes policies specifically for the microwork sector including ‘finders fees’ and payment for pre-task tests to ensure that microworkers are remunerated for all the time they actually spend working.

Source: SIA

(Links and quotes via original reporting)