The Internet Is Enabling a New Kind of Poorly Paid Hell

[babylonsister]

The Internet Is Enabling a New Kind of Poorly Paid Hell

For some Americans, sub-minimum-wage online tasks are the only work available.
Alana Semuels 11:10 AM ET Next Economy


Technology has helped rid the American economy of many of the routine, physical, low-paid jobs that characterized the workplace of the last century. Gone are the women who sewed garments for pennies, the men who dug canals by hand, the children who sorted through coal. Today, more and more jobs are done at a computer, designing new products or analyzing data or writing code.

But technology is also enabling a new type of terrible work, in which Americans complete mind-numbing tasks for hours on end, sometimes earning just pennies per job. And for many workers living in parts of the country where other jobs have disappeared—obviated by technology or outsourcing—this work is all that’s available for people with their qualifications.

This low-paid work arrives via sites like CrowdFlower, Clickworker, Toluna, and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, to name a few. Largely unregulated, these sites allow businesses and individuals to post short tasks and pay workers—in cash or, sometimes, gift cards—to complete them. A recent Mechanical Turk listing, for example, offered workers 80 cents to read a restaurant review and then answer a survey about their impressions of it; the time limit was 45 minutes. Another, which asked workers to fill out a 15-minute psychological questionnaire about what motivates people to do certain tasks, offered $1, but allowed that the job could take three hours.

These are not, by and large, difficult tasks—someone with just a high-school education could complete them easily. And they may seem like one-off jobs, done for money on the side by people with a surplus of idle time. But a growing number of people are turning to platforms like Mechanical Turk for the bulk of their income, despite the fact that the work pays terribly. It’s emblematic of the state of the economy in certain regions of the country that some people consider this type of work to be their only choice. A 2016 Pew Research Center survey found that 25 percent of workers who earned money from online job platforms like Mechanical Turk, Uber, and TaskRabbit went on these sites because there was no other available work in their area.

I talked to one such woman, a 29-year-old named Erica, who performs tasks for Mechanical Turk from her home in southern Ohio. (Erica asked to only use her first name because, she says, she read on Reddit that speaking negatively about Amazon has led to account suspensions. Amazon did not reply to a request for comment about this alleged practice.) Erica spends 30 hours a week filling out personality questionnaires, answering surveys, and performing simple tasks that ask her, for example, to press the “z” key when a blue triangle pops up on her screen. In the last month, she’s made an average of $4 to $5 an hour, by her calculations. Some days, she’ll make $7 over the course of three to four hours.

more...

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/01/amazon-mechanical-turk/551192/

[kimbutgar]

1. Last night at 9:55 pm a telemarketer called asking for my hubby

I told the woman, “do you know it’s almost 10 pm here why are you calling so late”? She snapped back at me, “ well it’s 1 am and I’m working”. I told her the husband was asleep and never cAll that late again . She had a southern voice and said “I’m only doing my job”. Totally pissed me off. I blocked that number. But what the nerve. These are those types that are probably paid for these cheap jobs.

[Initech]

3. If I don't know who's calling, I don't answer.

Same if my caller ID says something blatantly obvious like "Fast Debt Relief" - got no time for telemarketers.

[babylonsister]

4. Those types, do you mean the ones

who have no other recourse and these are the only jobs available?

Turn the phone off? I don't know. It sucks to be in her shoes though.

[Ms. Toad]

6. Ummmmm....no.

These are not telemarketing jobs.

I've done some of them for two different vendors - they do not involve human interaction.

Some are writing copy, some are locating pictures with certain characteristics, some are editing photos, some are editing the work of others, some are transcribing, some are taking surveys. Not a single one of the three sites I've worked for involved involuntary interactions with others. (The only interaction with others involved role playing and chatting with someone who expressly requested a chat partner - each time in response to a conversation they initiated.)

Many of them require a level of skill above what is necessary for telemarketing.

Do they pay a decent wage? Some do, if you learn the system (so you find the rhythm of job distribution) and you are quick at what you do. I didn't earn minimum wage because I was doing it when I needed a break in other tasks and I didn't put the effort into learning the system.

Are there lots of people who have big dreams, expecting online salvation from the lack of offline jobs? Definitely. But the same exists in the offline world - including jobs where people are induced to not bill all of their time so they get a bonus that is too small to cover minimum wage for the time worked.

[dlk]

2. This is Where More Unions Would Make an Enormous Difference - Too Many Americans Have Forgotten

[shanti]

5. Americans are joining the ranks of independent contractors

just like they are in China, India, Brazil, etc. TPTB won't be happy until ALL workers are earning pennies.

[CatMor]

7. I don't know how they are making any money....

seeing as they have to pay for a ISP and electricity. It's sad that this country has come to this after all the hard fought battles the unions waged in years past.