Microwork – short digital tasks assigned to workers, who are paid piece wages via online platforms – is now firmly part of UK employment. Almost one in eight workers in the UK “won” the right to perform digital tasks remotely in 2021 by bidding for “jobs” on the web. The TUC says that the proportion of the working population being paid for such digital tasks at least once a week has more than doubled since 2016. Yet almost two in three microworkers – many of whom have a degree – earn less than £4 an hour. This is not only below the minimum wage, but also less than a quarter of the median graduate starting salary.
The demand for microwork has increased with the rise of artificial intelligence, which needs human input to nudge computers in the right direction. Big tech companies employ, often anonymously through platforms, workforces that control quality and train AI. This type of employment boomed during the pandemic. People who lost their jobs or their income during lockdown ended up getting work that only needed an internet connection. Now, UK-based workers seeking to supplement their income at a time of double-digit inflation see microwork as a necessary side hustle.
This summer, the thinktank Autonomy warned that these unregulated models of employment are exploitative; unsurprising, perhaps, as half of the global workforce competing for these jobs is found in just three developing nations: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Academics Phil Jones and James Muldoon found that one in five workers they interviewed relied on this precarious form of labour. A typical microwork day might consist of 30 or 40 tasks for different platforms – each lasting between 30 seconds and 20 minutes.
The microworkforce is largely hidden, but Autonomy’s report suggests that in the UK it is young and well-educated, with more than 60% having at least a degree. Some workers do appreciate the flexibility of microwork, but the thinktank warns that many are “stressed [and] burnt out” by the constant hunt for tasks. Hidden beneath the claims of freedom is the fact that the platforms exercise firm control over most aspects of how, and to what standard, work is done. Workers have nowhere to go if a platform refuses to pay out.
Microworkers are left defenceless because employment rights were established in a legal system designed for another age. At present there are three categories of employment status in the UK: employee, worker and independent contractor. Only the first category is entitled to full employment rights, including redundancy payments, parental leave and protection against unfair dismissal. Digital platforms – the first was Amazon’s Mechanical Turk – assume their hires to be contractors. Autonomy suggests changing the law so that they are treated as workers, paid a minimum wage and given paid holidays. It also advocates a universal workers’ rights programme – including rights to childcare and to disconnect.
This would be very welcome, but needs a shift in political thinking. Labour rights are seen, wrongly, as a constraint on the efficiency of businesses. Higher trade union membership, studies show, leads to higher productivity. For decades, policymakers have freed employers from their responsibility to workers while making workers more dependent on employers. Feelings of powerlessness fuelled working-class anger during the last decade. A precariat is being formed, with working conditions overseen by extractive technologies. Left unchecked, this would lead to a dark future for the world of work – and politics.
