Online gig economy is failing to meet even the most basic labour standards

A major new report from Fairwork, a research network backed by the University of Oxford and WZB Berlin that researches the online gig economy, suggests that most of the world’s leading online work platforms are failing to uphold even the most basic labour standards. The Fairwork Cloudwork Ratings 2025 assess 16 of the world’s most widely used online work platforms on five core principles: fair pay, conditions, contracts, management, and representation.

Online gig economy work, also known as cloudwork, typically involves remote, task-based jobs like data labelling, transcription, software development, and design. Many of these tasks are fundamental for developing AI systems, making these roles a crucial part of the AI boom and the broader digital landscape. It’s a growing sector, with the World Bank estimating up to 435 million people worldwide are already working this way. But Fairwork’s findings reveal that behind this rapid growth lies a system where profit routinely trumps protection, leaving millions of workers unprotected.

Only 4 out of 16 platforms (25 percent) could show that workers consistently earn at least the local minimum wage after costs. The remaining 12, including Amazon Mechanical Turk, Fiverr, Freelancer, and Upwork, did not provide evidence that they guarantee payment for every completed task or that workers earn at least minimum wage.

Fairwork also surveyed over 750 workers across 100 countries. Of those, 31 percent had experienced non-payment, and 38 percent reported late payments. One worker from Nigeria, registered on Amazon Mechanical Turk, told researchers: “I wish I could get my money in my bank account rather than gift cards.” This comes despite the online gig economy being valued at $557 billion in 2024 and projected to grow to $647 billion in 2025.

Over half of platforms include contract clauses that actively weaken workers’ rights such as vague job descriptions, blanket liability clauses, and with lack of transparency. Only 6 out of 16 platforms (38 percent) demonstrated contracts that fairly reflect the work being done.

Workers are also excluded from decision-making: while 6 platforms (38 percent) now formally recognise the right to organise – up from just 2 last year – some allow collective bargaining or shared governance but none could show they are actively engaging in these processes.

Most platforms fail to support workers’ wellbeing: over half provide no wellbeing support at all. Additionally, only 7 out of 16 have policies to guard against health and safety risks such as burnout or back pain.

The 2025 ratings reflect the largest wave of platform improvements since the Fairwork project began, according to the report. Through direct engagement, Fairwork has helped eight platforms make 56 changes since 2023, from updating contracts to improving dispute resolution and pay transparency. These changes could benefit as many as two million workers.

But the vast majority of platforms still fail to meet even the minimum standards. Without stronger regulation and enforcement, millions will remain in precarious, low-paid, and unprotected work. Fairwork is calling for stronger national and international regulation against these platforms.