What is microwork and how does it affect people?
As online work is growing, micro-work requires the least amount of effort. Certain online jobs require skills such as software development, video production, audio editing, etc. (Webster). Micro-work only requires people to tag photos, enter data, check people ratings and product sentiment (Webster). These are the types of tasks that basically require only a few clicks and a few minutes, leading people into believing this type of work is menial. The job only requires that people have a digital device. They can work from home or anywhere they want to with internet connection. They also can work any time they want whenever they want, this means people may work only a few hours a week or it may consume all of their free time. Many people also believe these tasks are completed by algorithms, little do they know its people behind the screen. According to Lilly Irani, in 2006 the owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, introduced cloud computing. This was later referred to as the Amazon Mechanical Turk. This job required people to farm out massive volumes of small data processing tasks (Irani). Webster mentions in her article that these workers were only making at most $0.10 per task. Webster also states that micro-working is usually not the main source of income for those working within the field. Many people argue that is it fair to pay these people less than minimum wage, but workers for AMT claim that this is their decision. They are not forcing anybody to work through the computer screen and complete these small tasks (Irani).
In both articles, the authors seemed to agree on many things. Many people argue that micro-work is just for people to earn extra cash or they just do it for fun. What people don’t see is that it is much more complicated than that. The most prominent issue with micro-work is the pay. These workers are paid less than 10 cents per task. Irani says some people do this for pocket change, but she claims that majority of people overlook the minority of people that use this as their primary source of income. Webster also claims thats the amount of people who rely on this as their primary source of income is substantial. They also claim that micro-working is normalizing solitary work. These people can work from anywhere, without having to face people or be judged by others. Its easy for them to stay home instead of entering the real world. Both authors also speak on how workers bidding to work is very competitive. The access to work for these companies is not always available, making it so the pay is extremely insecure and the job is temporary as recognized by both authors.
With reading these two articles, I had never heard of micro-work. I thought that these tasks were completed with algorithms. It also shocked me how low of pay these people were receiving. Many people rely on this pay for their main income, making this not fair in my opinion. Some people can’t go out and physically work, but still need a form of income to help support themselves. Many people will work over 40 hours for micro-working, meaning that even if it isn’t a typical job where they go out into the world, they should still get paid minimum wage. It was interesting to read how these large businesses such as Amazon can so easily overlook how many people rely on this pay and actually want a legitimate job from performing these tasks in the future. They claim that they aren’t forcing people to do these jobs but don’t realize that people need them. Micro-work should be considered a legitimate job and these people deserve more pay even for their simple tasks.
Works Cited
Webster, Juliet. “Microworkers of the Gig Economy: Separate and Precarious.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1095796016661511. Accessed 23 February. 2019.
Irani , Lilly. “The Cultural Work of Microwork.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 2013, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444813511926. Accessed 23 February. 2019.
“Microwork APK.” Google.com, Larry Page, 28 Jan. 2018, www.google.com/search?rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS815US821&biw=1280&bih=646&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=PxlyXNOkLdK9ggeHySo&q=microwork&oq=microwork&gs_l=img.3..0i67j0l3j0i30l2j0i24l4.3425.4001..4231...0.0..0.82.206.3......1....1..gws-wiz-img.SAmwS155fi8#imgrc=SMOg-FdjnG8iNM: Accessed 23 February. 2019.
