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To earn a few euros, it is sometimes enough to simply use your smartphone: "Take it to the supermarket, take a picture of the shelves with the detergents and send us the photos by email." For example, a commissioned work for so-called click or Crowdworkers are loud.
Using special platforms on the Internet, they can take on small tasks that can be done at home on the computer - and get money for it.
According to a study funded by the German government, this type of work is more widespread in Germany than previously assumed.
According to the crowdworking monitor published in 2018, around five percent of people over the age of 18 are active on gig, click or crowdworking platforms.
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Around 70 percent of them earn money in this way, mostly a side income.
Around a third of the crowdworkers work more than 30 hours per week on a platform basis, almost one in four works more than 40 hours.
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The procedure for crowdworking is as follows: Companies offer orders via platforms.
The advantage for companies: They often receive the services more cheaply and flexibly than if they were to outsource the contract.
Crowdworkers registered on the respective platform take a look at the offer and apply if interested.
The client decides who gets the job.
So that they can make a choice, some platforms have a rating system for crowdworkers.
A client can therefore check how satisfied an ex-client was with the respective crowdworker.
“For crowdworkers themselves, the system is often opaque,” explains Enzo Weber from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg.
Platforms mediate housekeeping services or courier trips
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According to the IAB expert, the range of possible jobs is enormous.
People with low qualifications will find what they are looking for, as well as people with high qualifications.
Some of the platforms mediate or organize services to be provided on site, such as housekeeping services or courier trips.
Or jobs that need to be done with a smartphone or PC.
For example: reading prices for products in a store and entering them into a database.
"You can also find jobs that involve more complex tasks," says Andreas Lutz from the Association of Founders and Self-Employed Germany (VGSD).
These can be translation, programming or consulting activities.
Clickworking isn't the only way to make money on the internet.
Making a name for yourself as an influencer can be another option.
"For example, you can upload videos with very special content to YouTube," says Alexander Kiock, Vice President of the Federal Association of the Digital Economy (BVDW).
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However, you can only expect cooperation offers from companies when the number of followers has reached a certain level.
The companies want to use the reach of influencers for their advertising messages and pay for it.
It can be similar if influencers regularly post posts on a blog or Instagram.
“Earnings of tens of thousands of euros cannot be ruled out here,” says Kiock.
Many crowdworking jobs are poorly paid
Good earnings are also possible if proven experts for a topic receive additional assignments via an online portal.
“This can be of interest to lawyers, tax consultants or trainers, for example,” explains Lutz.
But lucrative payment for orders received over the Internet is by no means the rule.
“With crowd and gigworking, many jobs are paid poorly,” explains IAB expert Weber.
This is especially true when someone has no special know-how or only chooses tasks that require low qualifications, adds Lutz.
Everything about salary
What can speak for the jobs: "The contractor works independently, that is, he decides which tasks to take on and which not," says Weber.
In addition, the crowdworker can often freely dispose of working hours and place of work and does not enter into any permanent obligations.
Disadvantages for Clickworkers are, in addition to the often rather poor pay, there is no collective agreement, no minimum wage and no social security.
“Then there is the anonymity,” explains Kiock.
As a rule, you don't really know who you're dealing with on the platform.
“Many people also miss a personal exchange with colleagues,” says Lutz.
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What is important: As a rule, crowdworkers are considered self-employed, either part-time or full-time.
Even if the working conditions in practice have little to do with self-employment.
In the future, courts will have to make decisions about where the lines are to be drawn.
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Self-employed crowdworkers are in any case obliged to register for tax purposes.
"If you earn money as a crowdworker and you don't report this to the tax office, it can be tax evasion," Weber explains.
If necessary, they must also ask their employer for permission and register a trade.
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This article was first published on November 18, 2019.