Xu Junzuo (Xinhua News Agency)
In Rongjiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, a ride-hailing driver is scrubbing his car. Photo by Li Changhua (People’s Vision)
Photographer Xiao Yang takes photos in his spare time and uploads them to commercial photo websites to increase his income. The picture shows Xiao Yang taking sunrise in Beidaihe Scenic Area, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. Photo provided by the interviewee
Chart source: "2019 China County Gig Economy Survey Report"
On September 16, at 5 pm, Master Zhang got off work. Sitting in his car, he opened a certain online car-hailing software, and he changed from a corporate employee to an online car-hailing driver. "After get off work every day, I go home early and I am idle. It is better to drive an online car-hailing car and earn some gas money," Master Zhang told reporters.
At around 8 pm, Master Zhang finished work and went home. "I just treat it as a side job. If I feel tired one day, I will go home directly after get off work."
Nowadays, more and more office workers like Master Zhang have started to take "odd jobs", and even many people have started to take "odd jobs" full-time. Online ride-hailing drivers, delivery riders, chauffeurs… There are more and more flexible employment people, and the "gig economy" is quietly emerging.
From "gig jobs" to "gig economy"
Speaking of "odd jobs", Old Li, who is in his 60s, suddenly thinks of his father. "My father has a formal job, but after get off work, he always goes to some factories and shops to do some manual work to earn some extra money and support the family." Old Li has four brothers and sisters. In that era, it was not easy for his father to support the family.
Old Li’s father’s experience should be known to some elderly people, especially the "post-50s" and "post-60s". Even if they have not experienced it personally, many of their relatives and friends have had similar experiences.
In the late 1970s, along with the reform and opening up, township enterprises in the southeast coastal areas sprang up, but they lacked both technology and equipment.
As a result, the government and companies hire engineers from local retired skilled workers or factories and research institutes in cities like Shanghai, Nanjing and Suzhou to solve technical problems and improve product quality. These people are called "Sunday engineers." "They usually work in their respective positions and use weekends to go to township enterprises part-time to help enterprises overcome difficulties," said Jin Ge, a researcher at Peking University.
The economy is developing rapidly, and "odd jobs" are becoming more and more common. "Although some enterprises or factories have a lot of demand for employment, due to the lack of advanced information technology, they cannot match in time," Jin Ge said.
This mismatch between supply and demand was gradually broken by the birth and development of the Internet, and began to develop towards the "gig economy".
The "gig economy" refers to a short-term, flexible form of work that is different from the traditional "9-to-5", using the Internet and mobile technology to quickly match supply and demand.
Yan Fei, associate professor of sociology at Tsinghua University’s School of Social Sciences, pointed out that the most important feature of the "gig economy" is its dependence on Internet technology, and its work content has been greatly expanded, including manual labor such as takeout and express delivery, as well as remote business and delivery work through online platforms, such as professional services for online legal and financial consulting, creative and multimedia services, online marketing support, software and technology development, writing and translation.
At the end of last year, the "Development Status, Social Impact and Policy Recommendations of the Gig Economy in the Internet Era" released by the Institute of Economics of the School of Social Sciences of Tsinghua University showed that the "gig economy" is increasingly becoming an important force to promote "new employment forms" and a new growth point to promote high-quality development of the national economy. In 2019, China’s "gig economy" contributed 10.43% to the total GDP increase. It is expected that by 2035, this proportion will increase to 13.26%, accounting for 6.82% of GDP.
The new form of the "gig economy" is sweeping the world. Data show that in the United States and Europe, 10% to 15% of the working-age population make a living through "gig work", and another 10% to 15% use "gig work" as a side job outside their main job. The actual number of participants exceeds 160 million.
"A hobby can also bring a lot of benefits"
The traditional "gig job" model uses the "enterprise-employee" model, where companies provide positions and individuals apply for positions. After all, individuals are still part of the company. The "gig economy" has changed this model and transformed it into a "platform-individual" model. The platform provides employment needs and individuals make choices. This is an upgrade of the traditional model. It is not only companies that can publish their needs on the platform, but also individuals.
Taking online car-hailing as an example, individuals need to use a car, post their car needs on the online car-hailing platform, and the online car-hailing driver grabs the order to meet the customer’s car needs. Customers pay the fare, which can be regarded as compensation. Couriers, takeaway riders, and chauffeurs all adopt this new model.
"The platform has become a medium for the connection between the labor provider and the demand side in the’gig economy ‘, enabling the rapid matching of supply and demand." Zhang Xiaheng, an associate professor at the business school of Northwestern University of Political Science and Law, believes that this is an important reason why a large number of workers with supply capacity, working hours and skills prefer to take "gig jobs".
Xiao Yang is a programmer who loves photography and often takes pictures with his camera around in his spare time. When he takes good-looking photos, Xiao Yang will upload them to some commercial photo websites. Every time the pictures are downloaded, he can get a corresponding share, and he can earn hundreds of yuan a month by taking pictures.
Not only that, with the improvement of technology, Xiao Yang has gained some fame. Some commercial shooting activities will also find him as a full-time photographer, with compensation ranging from a few hundred yuan to thousands of yuan each time. "I really didn’t expect that a hobby can bring me a lot of income!" Xiao Yang said with a smile.
This is the charm of the "gig economy". Pay is settled in real time and strictly follows the principle of more work and more pay. For example, Xiao Yang, the more times his photos are downloaded, the higher his income; the longer he participates in commercial shooting activities and the more films are produced, the higher the fee paid to him. "Many young people now rely on’gig work ‘to earn more income than their own jobs," Jin Ge said.
Relative freedom of time, no fixed location, and self-determination of content are also characteristics of the "gig economy". Another feature is a distinct feature of the Internet – customer reviews. Those "gig economy" workers with more high-quality reviews can reap more opportunities and higher incomes.
Based on this, more and more young people are joining the ranks of "gig economy" workers. The hot "slash youth" in the past few years is the prelude to the "gig economy". Young people are no longer satisfied with only one job and only one identity. Some young people who have spare time and time will try more careers according to their abilities and interests.
Yan Fei said that as an emerging economic model, the "gig economy" has broken through the limitations of the traditional economic model in time and space, reduced the cost of market information transmission, provided employment opportunities for more workers, and provided strong support for the orderly operation of the economy and society.
Strengthen the protection of practitioners
Xiao Wang is an illustrator who is a freelancer and uses an order-based cooperation model. "If I have inspiration during this time, I will take a few more orders. If I feel tired, I will contact less. It mainly depends on my mood." Xiao Wang said.
Flexible working hours make Xiao Wang happy, but he also faces some problems, the biggest of which is social security.
With the further development of the "gig economy", many people may choose to give up their main occupation and start full-time "gig work". This phenomenon is becoming more and more common in industries such as online ride-hailing, food delivery, live broadcast, etc. Other freelance jobs will also have more full-time gig workers in the future. How to protect the pension insurance, medical insurance and labor rights of these practitioners needs to be solved urgently.
According to data released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the number of flexible employment practitioners in China is about 200 million, and a considerable number of them are "gig economy" practitioners. According to relevant agencies, by 2036, the number of "gig economy" workers will reach 400 million.
Since last year, food delivery riders have attracted great attention from the society due to their high-intensity work and low level of security. Many people have begun to reflect and call for strengthening the protection of labor rights and interests of new business practitioners, including the "gig economy".
To this end, in July this year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other 8 departments issued the "Guiding Opinions on Safeguarding the Labor Security Rights and Interests of Workers in New Employment Forms", which clearly "urges enterprises to participate in social insurance according to law. Enterprises should guide and support workers in new employment forms who do not fully meet the conditions of establishing labor relations to participate in corresponding social insurance according to their own circumstances"; 7 departments, including the State Regulation for Market Regulation, issued the "Guiding Opinions on Implementing the Responsibilities of Online Catering Platforms and Effectively Safeguarding the Rights and Interests of Takeaway Meal Delivery Workers", urging the platform to participate in social insurance for takeaway food deliverymen who have established labor relations
"If these’gig economy ‘workers are not included in the social security system, it will exacerbate the risks associated with population aging." Jin Ge said that only by participating in social security can the worries of new business practitioners be effectively alleviated, and the overall consumption structure and population structure of society can be expected to be optimized.
The supervision of platforms and enterprises should also be in place to prevent the occurrence of "policies above and countermeasures below". In this regard, Zhang Xiaheng suggested that relevant departments should increase the punishment of violations of laws and regulations through regular or irregular sampling and verification, improve the "gig economy" platform and the employment environment of enterprises, and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of practitioners.
In addition, many experts suggest that the construction of commercial insurance, especially commercial endowment insurance, should be accelerated. In May this year, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a notice to launch a pilot of exclusive commercial endowment insurance, starting from June 1 in Zhejiang and Chongqing. It is understood that exclusive commercial endowment insurance will be more flexible in terms of payment and welfare, which will be more in line with the actual situation of flexible employment, which will provide more choices for practitioners of the "gig economy".