Crowdworking – Currently Only a Marginal Source of Income

The last few years have seen the development of a market for paid, online labour. Crowdsourced labour allows businesses to allocate small tasks (so-called microtasks) efficiently to external workers via online platforms. In view of controversy surrounding this new online division of labour, the socio-economic backgrounds and motives of crowdworkers in Germany have been investigated in a study carried out by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS). The results show that crowdworking is currently only a marginal form of employment. More than 50 per cent of the respondents claimed to devote only up to an hour each week to crowdwork.

Furthermore, the study shows that the surveyed crowdworkers are often younger and more often unmarried compared to other workers in Germany. Also, the surveyed workers are generally highly educated. Over 40 per cent of those surveyed are university graduates, or are currently studying towards a degree. Therefore, completing microtasks is generally not a primary source of income. A large proportion of crowdworkers are in paid employment, or are completing vocational training or university studies besides their crowdwork activities.

Over half of the respondents claimed to spend no more than an hour each week completing tasks sourced via an online platform; around 13 per cent reported spending an average of over three hours each week completing such tasks. The average net income of crowdworkers also tends to be rather low: 69 per cent of the survey participants admitted that they generally earn a maximum average income of 4.99 euros per week. Only around three per cent said they earn in excess of 20 euros per week via an online platform.

The most commonly cited motivations for crowdworking were flexibility in terms of time, place and content of work. Although only few respondents agreed that the crowdsourced work matches their qualifications, merely 7 per cent are not satisfied with the work they do via the crowdworking platform.

Within the framework of this study, ZEW researchers surveyed German crowdworkers on two online platforms used to allocate microtasks. The study aimed to contribute to a better understanding of the labour market and socio-political dimensions of the phenomenon of crowdworking in Germany.

For more information please contact:                                                                  

Steffen Viete, Phone +49(0)621/1235-359, E-Mail viete@zew.de