Ethical payment practices can ease the over-taxed lives of global workers. iStockPhoto // oatawa

shedding the wealth

Let’s be real: taxes and fees stink. In Venezuela, a nation experiencing an ongoing political and economic crisis, nearly 52% of the workforce depends upon freelance work to make ends meet. In this context, many data workers trying to get paid are now subjected to a gauntlet of both international and domestic financial intermediaries—work platforms, digital crypto banks, and local brokers—each charging fees. A paper published by Julian Posada in Big Data & Society investigates the impact.

Through 38 interviews, Posada reveals how this volatile payment scheme presents three costly outcomes for workers. As crypto-payments must move through intermediary institutions, workers typically receive much less than they earn. The multi-layering of institutions also makes it difficult to withdraw funds quickly, which is essential given the risks inherent to the highly volatile crypto-market. Further, the distance between employer and international employee—both geographically and digitally—exacerbates power imbalances that push costs onto workers.

In an age of international outsourcing, worldwide data companies profit off of international workers, many of whom are in precarious financial situations. However, in cases like Venezuela, where the gig economy and crypto currencies make sense to counter unemployment and hyperinflation, ethical payment practices that take context into consideration may ease the over-taxed lives of global employees.