These jobs are all things I would outsource to Amazon MTurk for cheap. (and you can specify US ONLY too)
Yet no one claims using the MTURK API helps others "develop employable job skills"... website testing, cheap content writing and data entry aren't exactly the types of skills employers are unable to find when hiring.
The workers we are working with are not just located in the US, they are in job training programs with local municipalities. That means they have support behind them, someone that they can ask questions of and specific skills that they are being trained on to build. While the projects offered may seem trivial to some, they may not be to someone that doesn't have the same access to resources as us. We're trying to provide the fish as they learn how to fish for themselves.
These projects are the work experience component of a curriculum being presented to trainees in job training programs.
As mentioned in other comments, most trainees are working on basic technology skills rather than specialized job training. This is a place where even simple work like data entry, web research, and software testing can provide a useful opportunity to practice skills.
In unmanaged marketplaces like Mechanical Turk, some new entrant will always try do the work no matter how low you price it, and they'll usually do it wrong.
This means you end up running it repeatedly to get the right results, engineering safeguards against malicious or underpaid workers, and more.
Because MobileWorks is managed and not a marketplace, you pay a fixed price with no engineering cost.
Yet no one claims using the MTURK API helps others "develop employable job skills"... website testing, cheap content writing and data entry aren't exactly the types of skills employers are unable to find when hiring.