Requesters will soon be able to upgrade to AMT's elite masters qualification workforce for an additional 3.5 to 4.1 percent on their total bill. The overall amount paid will be more with thenew AMT fees scheduled for July 22, but the new lower percentage fee for masters workers makes that workforce less expensive comparatively. It remains to be seen whether this will result in a large shift towards hiring masters workers, or a bolstered reluctance to swallow the extra fee.
Budget Constraints
Most requesters already face a tight budget even before the recently announced fee increases. If requesters continue to use Amazon Mechanical Turk as their platform under the July 22 fee increases, they may already be squeezed to the point of being unable to afford the additional few pennies on the dollar. A job that used to cost $110 under the old system, starting July 22, will cost $120 -- or $140 if there are 10 assignments. There may just not be room in the budget to pay about $125 or $145 respectively.
Work Quality
If requesters are willing to stay with AMT under the new fee increases, they might seek a little extra assurance that the job gets done right by masters workers. This would apply to jobs that are less black and white in nature. Surveys sometimes don't come out well if workers try to rush through them. Running the surveys again could be more costly than upgrading to the masters qualification in the first instance.
Work Availability Effect
If there is a requester shift toward paying extra for masters workers, the result would be a decrease in available work for those without the qualification. Until AMT grants a sufficient number of masters qualifications, there would probably appear to be an increase in available tasks for those who already have the qualification.
For requesters who feel they have seen more than adequate quality from non-masters tasks, there may be no reason to pay the extra several percent on an already increased bill. For requesters who have been considering trying out the masters workforce, this may be the time to experiment. Workers might see considerable fluctuation in task qualifications and work availability until things get worked out.
Most requesters already face a tight budget even before the recently announced fee increases. If requesters continue to use Amazon Mechanical Turk as their platform under the July 22 fee increases, they may already be squeezed to the point of being unable to afford the additional few pennies on the dollar. A job that used to cost $110 under the old system, starting July 22, will cost $120 -- or $140 if there are 10 assignments. There may just not be room in the budget to pay about $125 or $145 respectively.
Work Quality
If requesters are willing to stay with AMT under the new fee increases, they might seek a little extra assurance that the job gets done right by masters workers. This would apply to jobs that are less black and white in nature. Surveys sometimes don't come out well if workers try to rush through them. Running the surveys again could be more costly than upgrading to the masters qualification in the first instance.
Work Availability Effect
If there is a requester shift toward paying extra for masters workers, the result would be a decrease in available work for those without the qualification. Until AMT grants a sufficient number of masters qualifications, there would probably appear to be an increase in available tasks for those who already have the qualification.
For requesters who feel they have seen more than adequate quality from non-masters tasks, there may be no reason to pay the extra several percent on an already increased bill. For requesters who have been considering trying out the masters workforce, this may be the time to experiment. Workers might see considerable fluctuation in task qualifications and work availability until things get worked out.