Skip to content

Research report ยท August 2026 edition

The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work

On 31 Aug 2026, 30 roles in Data Annotation & Labeling were open on 9 platforms (micro1 listed 43.3%); their median advertised rate was $18/hr, 72% below the $65/hr of all AI training work; each open role drew 5.02x the apply clicks of the average role.

Read the month's story: The AI Training Job Market in August 2026

Data window
1 Aug 2026 to 31 Aug 2026
31 days, UTC
Frozen
10 Oct 2026, 14:55 UTC
These figures will not change
Source
The public job boards of the AI training platforms this site tracks, read every day. Apply clicks are made on AITraining.jobs; full descriptions come from the platforms whose boards publish them.
Method
Version 1. Definitions
CC BY 4.0, how to cite

Every figure on this page as CSV and JSON, sent to your work email.

open roles on 31 Aug 2026
30
median advertised rate (all AI training work: $65/hr)
$18/hr
apply clicks per open role, against the average role
5.02x
of open roles at micro1, the largest of 9 platforms
43%

Key findings

  1. 1

    Between the week of 3 Aug 2026 and the week of 24 Aug 2026, open roles in Data Annotation & Labeling on the platforms tracked since 3 Aug 2026 went down 1.0%, from about 30 to 30, against +9.0% for all AI training work on the same platforms.

    Figure 1
  2. 2

    9 platforms listed the 30 open roles in Data Annotation & Labeling; micro1 held 43.3% and the three largest 66.7% (HHI 2,378, moderately concentrated, against 1,993 for all AI training work).

    Figure 3
  3. 3

    23 of the 30 open roles in Data Annotation & Labeling (76.7%) stated an hourly rate, with a median of $18/hr (middle half $11 to $48), 72% below the $65/hr of all AI training work.

    Figure 4
  4. 4

    Each open role in Data Annotation & Labeling drew 0.40 apply clicks a week on AITraining.jobs, 5.02x the average AI training role: the highest of 7 kinds of work with enough clicks to rank.

    Figure 6
  5. 5

    60.0% of the 30 open roles in Data Annotation & Labeling accepted applicants from any country, against 51.3% of all AI training roles; of the 20 countries compared, residents of the United States (24), then the Philippines (22), then the United Kingdom, India and Pakistan (20 each) could apply to the most, and residents of 8 of the countries (among them Bangladesh and Egypt) to the fewest (18 each).

    Figure 9
  6. 6

    The words used most in the titles of open roles in Data Annotation & Labeling were Annotator or labeler (10), Expert or SME (4) and Trainer (4), of 30 open roles.

    Figure 10
  7. 7

    Over the 31 days from 1 Aug 2026 to 31 Aug 2026, open roles in Data Annotation & Labeling on the platforms tracked at its start went down 11.8% (34 to 30): platforms listed 30 new roles and removed 34, and a removed role had been listed for a median of 19 days (22 across all AI training work).

    Figure 2

Figure 1

Open roles, week by week

Is the number of open roles in Data Annotation & Labeling rising or falling?

WeekOpen roles (fixed panel)Index
3 to 9 Aug
30
100.0
10 to 16 Aug
29
95.7
17 to 23 Aug
29
95.2
24 to 30 Aug
30
99.0
31 AugPartial week
30
100.0

Sample. Average open roles in Data Annotation & Labeling over each week's days, on the 15 platforms tracked since 3 Aug 2026 (the fixed panel; 9 of them list this work), 3 Aug 2026 to 31 Aug 2026.

The index is the panel's open roles against the week of 3 Aug 2026 (100), beside the same index for all AI training work on the same platforms.

Every platform listing this work in the span was tracked from the start of the series.

Weeks with fewer than 10 open roles on the panel, or cut by the span, are marked.

The series starts in the week of 3 Aug 2026 at the earliest: before it, this dataset's feeds were still being added and tuned.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition.

Figure 2

Listings added and removed

How fast do roles in Data Annotation & Labeling turn over, and is the stock growing on the same platforms?

WorkOpen on 1 Aug 2026Open on 31 Aug 2026, same platformsChangeNew listings
Data Annotation & Labeling3430
-11.8%
30
All AI training work1,5201,591
+4.7%
938

Sample. Roles listed from 1 Aug 2026 to 31 Aug 2026: 64 in Data Annotation & Labeling, 2,458 across all AI training work.

Change compares the roles open on the first and the last day of the window on the platforms tracked when it opened, so a platform added during the window does not read as growth.

A new listing first appeared in the window on a platform already tracked before that week; a platform's first week (its back catalogue) is not counted.

Median days listed runs from a removed role's listing date to its last sighting, for removed roles with a known listing date (at least 10; 32 here).

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition.

Figure 3

Who lists it

Which platforms list roles in Data Annotation & Labeling, and what does each advertise?

PlatformOpen rolesShare of open rolesMedian per hour
micro113
43.3%
$48
Invisible4
13.3%
n/a
Braintrust3
10.0%
n/a
Mercor3
10.0%
n/a
Appen2
6.7%
n/a
TransPerfect DataForce2
6.7%
n/a
AfterQuery1
3.3%
n/a
Remotasks1
3.3%
n/a
xAI (SpaceXAI)1
3.3%
n/a

Sample. 30 roles in Data Annotation & Labeling open at the end of 31 Aug 2026, by the platform that lists them: HHI 2,378 (moderately concentrated), against 1,993 for all AI training work.

HHI: the sum of every platform's squared percentage share of the open roles, 0 to 10,000; under 1,500 is unconcentrated, 1,500 to 2,500 moderately and above 2,500 highly concentrated (US merger-guideline thresholds).

Shares are of listings, not of people hired or money paid: a platform posting one role per language or country weighs more here than its hiring may.

A median needs at least 8 roles stating an hourly rate.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition.

Figure 4

What it pays

What do roles in Data Annotation & Labeling advertise per hour, against AI training work as a whole?

WorkMedian per hour25th percentile75th percentileStating an hourly rate
Data Annotation & Labeling
$18
$11$4876.7%
All AI training work
$65
$40$8589.1%

Sample. Roles open on 31 Aug 2026: 30 in Data Annotation & Labeling, 23 of them stating an hourly rate; 1,591 across all AI training work.

Pay is the hourly figure the posting advertises (the middle of a stated range). The middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile.

Roles paid per task or per project, or that state no figure, do not state an hourly rate. A median needs at least 8 roles stating one.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition.

Figure 5

How its rates are distributed

What share of roles in Data Annotation & Labeling pay $50 an hour or more?

Advertised rateOpen rolesShare of priced rolesAll AI training work
Under $15/hr11
47.8%
2.8%
$15 to $25/hr1
4.3%
3.9%
$25 to $35/hr3
13.0%
5.1%
$35 to $50/hr7
30.4%
21.1%
$50 to $75/hr1
4.3%
32.9%
$75 to $100/hr0
0.0%
15.0%
$100 to $150/hr0
0.0%
14.9%
$150/hr or more0
0.0%
4.4%

Sample. 23 roles in Data Annotation & Labeling open on 31 Aug 2026 that state an hourly rate, against 1,418 across all AI training work.

Each role counts once, at the middle of its advertised range. The bands are those of the pay-transparency report.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition.

Figure 6

Applicant demand per open role

Do roles in Data Annotation & Labeling draw more or fewer applicants per opening than the average AI training role?

RolesClicks per role a weekIndex
Data Annotation & Labeling
0.40
5.02x
All AI training work
0.08
1.00x
Its roles stating an hourly rate
0.41
5.14x
Its roles stating no hourly rateSmall sample
0.37
4.71x
Its roles open worldwide
0.39
4.95x
Its roles limited by countrySmall sample
0.41
5.12x

Sample. Apply clicks on a specific role on AITraining.jobs, from 1 Aug 2026 to 31 Aug 2026: 52 on roles in Data Annotation & Labeling, against the days those roles were open.

Clicks per role a week = apply clicks / (open role-days / 7). Index 1.00 is the rate of every role on the site.

Rows with fewer than 30 clicks or 3 roles open on an average day are marked as a small sample.

Apply clicks measure interest among visitors to AITraining.jobs, who see roles open in their country and recent, priced roles first. Clicks are never split by platform.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition.

Figure 7

Applicant demand by listing age

Do newer roles in Data Annotation & Labeling draw more applicants than older ones?

Listing ageClicks per role a weekIndex (this work = 1)
Listed during the window
0.93
2.34x
Listed up to 4 weeks before itSmall sample
0.18
0.46x
Listed 4 to 12 weeks before itSmall sample
0.04
0.10x
Listed more than 12 weeks before itSmall sample
0.26
0.66x
Listing date unknownSmall sample
0.39
0.97x

Sample. Apply clicks on roles in Data Annotation & Labeling, from 1 Aug 2026 to 31 Aug 2026, by when each role was listed relative to the window's first day (1 Aug 2026).

Listing date: the date the job board gives for the posting, or else the first day the role appeared in the feed. A role that arrived with a platform's back catalogue and gives no date has none.

The index divides each row's rate by the rate of all roles in this kind of work, so it reads within the kind.

Rows with fewer than 30 clicks or 3 roles open on an average day are marked as a small sample.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition.

Figure 8

Who may apply: location rules

Can people apply to roles in Data Annotation & Labeling from anywhere?

Location ruleOpen rolesShare of its open rolesAll AI training work
Open worldwide18
60.0%
51.3%
Worldwide except listed countries1
3.3%
9.8%
Only listed countries11
36.7%
38.9%
No rule stated0
0.0%
0.0%

Sample. 30 roles in Data Annotation & Labeling open at the end of 31 Aug 2026, against 1,591 across all AI training work.

The rule is read from each posting's location text and, where the posting is silent, from what the platform states about where it hires.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition.

Figure 9

Who may apply: roles open to each country

How many roles in Data Annotation & Labeling can a resident of each country apply to?

CountryOpen rolesShare of its open roles
Any country (worldwide roles only)
18
60.0%
United States
24
80.0%
Philippines
22
73.3%
United Kingdom
20
66.7%
India
20
66.7%
Pakistan
20
66.7%
Argentina
19
63.3%
Brazil
19
63.3%
Chile
19
63.3%
Colombia
19
63.3%
Germany
19
63.3%
Ghana
19
63.3%
Indonesia
19
63.3%
Bangladesh
18
60.0%
Egypt
18
60.0%
Japan
18
60.0%
Cambodia
18
60.0%
South Korea
18
60.0%
Nigeria
18
60.0%
Palestine
18
60.0%
Saudi Arabia
18
60.0%

Sample. 30 roles in Data Annotation & Labeling open at the end of 31 Aug 2026, for residents of a fixed set of 20 countries.

A country's count is the roles open worldwide, plus roles whose list names it, plus roles whose exclusion list does not. Roles with no rule stated count for no country.

The 20 countries are the same in every report of this series: those named most often by the location rules of open AI training roles on 9 Oct 2026, either as the only countries accepted or as excluded.

Median pay is over the roles open to that country that state an hourly rate (at least 8).

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition.

Figure 10

What the roles are called

What are roles in Data Annotation & Labeling called: annotator, evaluator, expert or trainer?

Title wordOpen rolesShare of its open roles
Annotator or labeler
10
33.3%
Expert or SME
4
13.3%
Trainer
4
13.3%
Specialist
3
10.0%
Contributor or participant
2
6.7%
Writer or editor
2
6.7%
Lead or manager
1
3.3%
Voice actor or speaker
1
3.3%

Sample. 20 of the 30 roles in Data Annotation & Labeling open on 31 Aug 2026 name one of these words in their title (66.7%); 8 title words are named.

A title can use several of these words ('Expert AI Trainer') and counts for each. The vocabularies are those of the job-titles, languages and expert-fields reports.

Median pay needs at least 8 roles stating an hourly rate.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition.

For labs, data vendors and researchers

Buy the data behind this report

The figures above are a summary. Behind them are records we collect ourselves, every day:

  • 9,572 roles tracked, each with its history

    Every role on 29 job boards, read daily since 13 Jul 2026: its pay and place, and the first and last day it was open.

  • 6,200 apply clicks in 28 days

    Which roles people actually apply to, by field, pay and kind of work. It happens on this site, so nobody else can count it.

  • 39 lab and vendor hiring boards

    The job boards of 25 AI labs and 14 human-data vendors, read every day: who is hiring for human data, and who is hiring to buy it.

What you can buy

  • The records

    The rows behind any figure, with their history, not only the totals.

  • A regular feed

    The same figures every week or month, as files.

  • A custom cut or benchmark

    Your countries, languages or fields, or your own platform against the market.

Method and definitions

The public job boards of the AI training platforms this site tracks, read every day. Apply clicks are made on AITraining.jobs; full descriptions come from the platforms whose boards publish them. Every figure is computed by one database query over the window shown, the same query for the live report and for every edition. Each figure states its sample beneath it.

Kind of work
Each role is classified from its title and description into one of the twelve kinds of AI training work this site tracks; this report counts the roles classified as Data Annotation & Labeling.
Fixed panel
The platforms already tracked when the weekly series opens. The index follows their open roles, so a platform added later (such as OpenTrain AI and Welo Data in September 2026) never reads as growth.
Index
The panel's average open roles in a week, divided by the same in the base week, times 100; shown beside the same index for all AI training work on the same platforms.
Open role
A role listed by a given day and still in its platform's feed that day.
New listing
A role that first appeared during the window on a platform already tracked before that week. A platform's first week in this dataset is its back catalogue and is not counted as new.
Removed listing
A role that left its platform's feed during the window.
Days listed
From a removed role's listing date to the last day it was seen in its feed. A median needs at least 10 removed roles.
HHI
Herfindahl-Hirschman Index: the sum of every platform's squared percentage share of open roles, 0 to 10,000. Under 1,500 unconcentrated, 1,500 to 2,500 moderately, above 2,500 highly concentrated.
Advertised pay
The hourly figure a posting states (the middle of a stated range). Medians need at least 8 roles stating a rate; the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
Clicks per open role a week
Apply clicks on AITraining.jobs on a specific role, divided by the days the roles were open, times 7.
Demand index
Clicks per open role a week divided by the same rate across every role on the site. Above 1, the roles draw more applicants than the average role.
Listing age
When a role was listed relative to the window's first day: during the window, up to 4 weeks before it, 4 to 12 weeks before or longer. The listing date is the job board's posting date, or else the first day the role appeared in the feed.
Location rule
Read from each posting's location text and, where that names no country, from what the posting's own description states: open worldwide, worldwide except listed countries, only listed countries, or no rule stated.
Open to a country
A role is open to residents of a country if it is open worldwide, its list names the country, or its exclusion list does not. The 20 countries compared are the same in every report of the series.
Window
Live: the last 28 complete days, in UTC, and the last twelve complete ISO weeks (from the week of 3 Aug 2026 at the earliest) for the weekly series. Edition: one calendar month, in UTC, and its weeks.

What this data cannot tell you

  • Platforms that recruit without a public job board are not counted. Several large ones invite workers to projects directly.
  • A listing is not a hire. Some platforms keep evergreen roles open for months, and some post one listing per language or country.
  • Apply clicks measure interest among the people who use AITraining.jobs, and what is shown first gets clicked more. Clicks are never published by platform.
  • Full descriptions are published by a few platforms only, so the requirements figure describes their roles and appears only when at least 10 roles of this kind are described.
  • A kind of work with few open roles gives figures that move with a handful of postings: rows on too little data are marked as a small sample.

How the job feeds are read and roles are classified: site methodology. How fresh, complete and consistent the data is, checked every day: data quality and coverage.

Editions

The live report covers the last 28 complete days and changes every day. Each complete month is also published as an edition, frozen two days after the month ends, so a figure you cite from an edition never moves.

Cite and reuse

Free to quote, chart and republish under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page. This edition is frozen, so its figures will read the same later.

Citation

AITraining.jobs (2026). The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition. https://www.aitraining.team/research/data-annotation-market/2026-08

BibTeX

@misc{aitrainingjobs_data_annotation_market_2026_08,
  author = {{AITraining.jobs}},
  title = {The Market for Data Annotation & Labeling Work, August 2026 edition},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://www.aitraining.team/research/data-annotation-market/2026-08}},
}
Data: every figure as CSV (one line per value) and JSON, sent to your work email.Pay and open-roles data

More research

The same figures for every other kind of work:

All 78 research reports