The rise of digital platforms that allow people to do smaller tasks and projects for a range of clients has been well documented in recent years. A recent study from the University of Exeter highlights how the Covid pandemic has accelerated this “microwork” trend.

The study reveals that 36% of those surveyed said that they had started microworking during the pandemic, with many citing the pandemic as a major reason for this shift. This is not a particularly positive trend, however, as 95% of respondents said they earned below minimum wage, with two-thirds earning less than £4 per hour.

Extra income

The researchers reveal that around half of respondents said they were doing microwork in addition to a full-time job, with a further 29% in some form of part-time work, which highlights the augmentative nature of microwork, with many explaining that they simply wanted to earn a bit extra on top of their regular income.

“While microworkers in other parts of the world work long hours and rely heavily on income received from their work on platforms to provide for their essential needs, U.K.-based workers tend to work fewer hours and see their work on the platform as supplementing other sources of income, even full-time jobs,” they explain. “Many workers we interviewed explicitly spoke of their work on platforms as a ‘side hustle’ and only one of a range of revenue streams.”

Microworkers appeared to span both social classes and educational backgrounds, with those from low-income backgrounds most likely to use it to pay for essential items, whereas higher-income microworkers tended to use it to top up their existing income.

Well educated

As with other forms of gig worker, the researchers found that 60% of microworkers had a tertiary level qualification, with over 20% holding a postgraduate degree. This didn’t seem to make a great deal of difference, however, as these graduates didn’t receive higher wages on the platforms, or indeed engage in different forms of work.

This doesn’t seem to deter people, however, with many reporting that they chose this style of work because they didn’t like office life or that the flexibility was valuable. At the time of writing, however, many of those surveyed were relatively new to the field, with 53% having done microwork for less than a year and just 15% doing so for over three.

The tangential nature of microwork was underlined by the fact that most respondents reported working only a few hours per week, with over half working somewhere between one and ten hours each week.

The authors conclude with some policy recommendations that aim to improve conditions for microworkers, including ratings systems for contractors and worker messaging systems so that microworkers are better placed to organize for improved working conditions and to spot bad employers.