Digital labour platforms and national employment policies in China: Studying the case of food delivery platforms - epub

This paper takes food-delivery platforms as a case study in China to examine the impact of digital labour platforms on employment and presents findings with respect to employment structure, employment relations, working conditions, wages, protection of workers and social insurance in the food-delivery sector. Three questions have been addressed in the paper: 1) What are the implications of the digital platform economy for employment and labour market in China? 2) How have the regulatory policies of the digital platform economy impacted platform companies and workers? and 3) In light of the impact on employment and workers, how should China’s national employment policy framework respond to the regulatory challenges and protect the workers?

Since the study has been conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, it reviewed the deteriorated employment situation in China: an increased proportion of workers joining the digital platform economies such as ride-hailing, delivery and domestic work. The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in production, business operations (particularly in the accommodation and catering sectors), and labour mobility have contributed to the influx of workers from other service jobs to food-delivery. The contextualization of the key characteristics of platform employment in the food-delivery sector and identification of the challenges in China’s national employment policies and regulations of digital labour platforms will share the experience of national employment policies in China and offer an insight into the barriers and possible pathways toward the future of inclusive and sustainable development with full, productive and freely chosen employment and decent work for all. The paper concludes with suggestions on how to promote decent employment in the platform economy beyond the traditional national employment policy frameworks.