This article was prompted by a friend who told me that she’d tried Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) after reading one of my articles. She had done a number of hits but eventually decided that the MTurk payments were way too low and that Amazon MTurk was essentially a form of slave labor.
It is an issue that I’ve wrestled with myself, during my darker moments as an MTurk worker. MTurk requesters effectively sidestep most labor legislation when they use MTurk, meaning that MTurk workers, unlike people working in the “real” world, have virtually no rights. Employers get a good deal out of MTurk potentially, as their overheads are minimal and they can effectively hire and fire at will. Workers, on the other hand, are vulnerable to being ripped off.
Some of the MTurk requesters also offer payment rates that are effectively absurd. Sometimes if you are like me, you look at the hit and think that they are paying you 1 cent for each task, which is already poor money, but then you read on and there are 10 of these tasks per hit. That means that you are being offered 0.1 cent for each task. Even if you can complete two tasks per minute, that’s still an hourly payment rate of just 12 cents!
Okay, I will shut up moaning. But the issue is still a serious one. At the end of the day, I use my MTurk payments to supplement other income that’s coming in and spend the money on essentially frivolous stuff such as nice coffee and audio equipment. I feel concerned about people who are in a dire financial situation and reliant on MTurk to pay for some of their essential, day to day needs.
MTurk is fine in that context, as casual work that supplements other income, but I’d hate to see a world where all work was like MTurk and everyone was forced to scrape a living from day to day with virtually no rights or job security - a kind of weird cross between Victorian England and internet technology. In short, I think that MTurk is great as an online earning option (which can also be fun sometimes!) but not if it’s your only effective choice!
Mr. Paul, good thoughts you have penned. Keep this going...
ReplyDeleteThe turkers are at fault - if you work for pennies, requesters will never increase the pay. DON'T do the work, then they HAVE to increase the pay. No one is "forced" to do this, and if you have a brain in your head, good morals, and the gumption to stand up for what is right, you won't be taken advantage of.
ReplyDeleteThat is good advice, Spamgirl!
ReplyDelete@Vijay - Keep reading, Mr Vijay! :-)
ReplyDeleteI just started there. I am without a job and so is my husband. i am a teacher and he is a social worker, who have been hit hard by Florida's governors cut on state jobs. Is the pay bad? Yes, but you can pick and chose. And we have NO income, so this is better tha none. I write on the internet, but that has slowed down, thanks to Google's new algorithims. People suggest that this is ' slave' labor, but don't suggest where else to make money online. Suggestions would be welcome. And as you can see, we are well educated peoploe and every intelligent. I would love great paying work. Anyone want to call Governor Scott in Tallahassee?
ReplyDeleteOk. So my cat was sitting on the computer. But I can type too. LOL
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about your troubles, DHem. I live in FL too, so I am aware of what's happening with the cutbacks! Have you tried ODesk?
ReplyDeleteMTurk pay is really low, but I am working on paying off all my debt. I have a dream of being 100% debt free within the next couple of years. basically even if I only make $30 per week on MTurk in my sparetime that's an extra $120/month to throw on that debt until it's gone. I would not use it as a primary income.
ReplyDelete