Workers in the crowd: the labor market impact of the online platform economy

Abstract

We compare individuals engaged in online crowdwork against workers in traditional occupations from the United States and Europe, investigating the determinants of access into crowd employment and the nature of the deterioration of salary conditions and job quality characterizing these markets. We do so by matching responses from comparable working conditions surveys, and controlling for most individual and socio-economic characteristics affecting pay. We find that most differences in earnings are largely unexplained by the ability of individuals, and that labor in crowdwork is vastly under-utilized.