According to a report from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the new individual economy has become a powerful reservoir of employment-more than one million online delivery workers run on the road every day
At present, online delivery personnel have become the "new infrastructure" of modern urban life, which not only means that the entire industry continues to flourish, but also indicates that new formats are gradually becoming the main force in absorbing employment.
With the emergence of new forms of business and new models, and constantly providing "nutrients" for expanding new employment space and fostering new forms of employment, the new individual economy has become a reservoir of employment.
The "Analysis of the Status Quo of the Employment Situation of Online Delivery Operators" recently released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") shows that driven by the digital transformation of the service industry and online shopping consumption, the current employment group of online delivery operators has grown rapidly , The number of online dispatchers running on the road every day has reached one million.
Experts said that under the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the market has challenges and opportunities.
At present, new business forms and new models are emerging one after another, providing “nutrients” for expanding new employment space and fostering new forms of employment. The new individual economy has become a reservoir of employment.
Technological innovation brings profound changes
This year 34-year-old Chang Baohong has worked as a security guard and an auto parts maintenance worker. In 2018, he transformed into a takeaway online delivery agent, mainly responsible for delivery tasks.
At 6 o'clock every morning, Chang Baohong starts work on time.
The task in the morning is mainly to deliver breakfast, with a relatively slow pace.
But at 10:30 in the morning, as the noon peak approached, he had to deliver takeaway for 3 hours at one go, and he could not eat his lunch until around 2 in the afternoon.
The evening peak starts at around 5 o'clock in the evening, and the red will often give away 3 hours of takeaway.
After dinner and sending some scattered takeaway orders, he will not finish work.
"A single earning 8 yuan, plus other subsidies and rewards, can earn 300 to 400 yuan a day." Chang Baohong said that through hard work, he not only supported his parents, his wife and children, but also achieved poverty alleviation.
Chang Baohong is just the epitome of millions of first-line online delivery personnel.
Relevant data shows that in 2019, the number of online delivery personnel who received income through the Meituan platform alone reached 3.987 million, an increase of 23.3% from 2018.
After the outbreak, from January 20 to March 30, 2020, the number of newly registered and income-generating online delivery personnel on the Meituan platform reached 457,800.
"Online-hailing couriers shuttled through the streets and alleys of the city to deliver express delivery. Behind it is the profound changes brought about by technological innovation." Yang Zhiming, president of the Chinese Labor Association and special researcher of the State Council Counselor's Office, said that online couriers are a new technological revolution. The product, the current consumption of new forms of "making something out of nothing" and traditional industry upgrades "making out of nothing" interweave and evolve, new economic activities driven by data, platform support, and network collaboration, enabling the rapid application of Internet technology in the life service industry, forming a platform economy , Which has led to the emergence of online dispatchers in social life on a large scale.
According to reports, online delivery is different from traditional express delivery and warehousing logistics.
In the distribution link, online delivery personnel provide point-to-point services, without centralized pick-up and delivery and intermediate transfers; in the scope of distribution, online delivery has strong localization and life circle characteristics, mainly serving catering take-out and B2C retail , Supermarket convenience, fresh home delivery, intra-city flash delivery, etc., there is no long-distance and remote distribution; in terms of distribution technology, online delivery personnel are a direct product of mobile Internet technology innovation.
"A major change in the global labor market over the past 10 years has been a substantial increase in the number of people employed on the Internet platform. Online delivery operators are a typical model of mobile Internet, artificial intelligence technology and human cooperation. Intelligent route planning and human flexibility are perfect. The combination not only improves work efficiency, drastically reduces production services and market transaction costs, but also increases a large number of human-machine cooperation employment opportunities." said Mo Rong, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security Sciences.
Flexible time is the biggest attraction
At present, many employees are unwilling to be restricted by space and time, but tend to choose a more flexible employment model to find a balance between life and work.
Flexible employment time is the most important reason why the job of the online delivery agent attracts practitioners.
The survey shows that flexible time is the most significant feature of online-hailing delivery personnel, and nearly 60% of online-hailing delivery personnel have less than 4 hours of delivery time per day.
"Information technology has made working hours, locations, and methods more flexible and diverse, and the flexible working mode of online dispatchers meets the social needs of workers pursuing independent labor, and will play an increasingly important role in economic and social life such as production and consumption. Role." said Feng Xiliang, Dean of the School of Labor Economics, Capital University of Economics and Business.
It is worth noting that although the education background of online delivery agents is mainly junior high school and high school education, the proportion of online delivery agents with a college degree (college, undergraduate, master and above) is close to 15%.
Wan Ying, secretary-general of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, Real-Time Logistics Branch of the City, believes that the identification of new professions from “delivery brothers” to “online dispatchers” has given millions of “post-80s” and “post-90s” The main young practitioners have a sense of professional identity, and they are becoming an indispensable member of urban life.
Yang Zhiming said that any new thing will go through the process of first developing and then standardizing, developing while standardizing, and promoting development with standardization. You cannot simply use the labor contract method formed in the industrialized era to treat and manage new types of labor in the network era.
As one of the new employment methods, online delivery personnel have obvious characteristics of part-time employment and shared employment, which reflects that the new generation of workers are more willing to work flexibly and to devote themselves to new forms of business.
30 million people in demand in the next 5 years
As online dispatchers have become the "new infrastructure" of modern urban life and a typical representative of new forms of employment absorbing, the future market demand of this profession is also optimistic about the industry.
The "Report" believes that as the country continues to increase support for "Internet +", platform economy, etc., and continue to cultivate and expand new consumer formats, it is expected that the online rate of catering and retail will increase by 4 to 5 times in the future, driving immediate delivery The scale of the industry has increased accordingly.
It is estimated that the demand for online dispatchers will be about 30 million in the next five years, and the market development will continue to increase the demand for online dispatchers.
Yang Zhiming said that with the diversification of consumer online shopping types, the timeliness of arrival in the past three days has not been able to meet demand. The immediate attributes of products such as takeaway, fresh food, and medicines make it necessary to quickly deliver to consumers.
During the epidemic, the distribution needed for anti-epidemic supplies, medical staff's living security, and home life has suddenly increased, which has strengthened online delivery to become a rigid demand for urban life.
The massive market demand has resulted in a large-scale increase in the employment of delivery staff, and it has rapidly transformed into a pillar new business that stimulates consumption growth and attracts employment for migrant workers and other laborers.
"At present, the state continues to increase support for'Internet +', platform economy, etc., actively cultivate and expand new consumption formats, and strive to develop online and offline catering services. In the future, the catering industry will definitely demand online delivery personnel With further improvement, the rapid development of the new profession of online delivery personnel will also play a more important role in the transformation and upgrading of the catering industry." said Han Ming, president of the China Hotel Association.
At the same time, the "Report" also shows that the actual income of online dispatchers will further increase in the future.
The scale of instant delivery orders is growing rapidly, and the delivery labor gap will still exist for a long time. The market value of online delivery personnel will be more prominent, and the social status will be further improved.
With the improvement of the skill level of online delivery personnel, they can gradually develop up to the corresponding level, and make progress in labor income, personal growth, and management promotion.
With the completion of the development of national vocational skill standards for online-delivered distributors, the salary structure of online-delivered distributors will be further improved, professional management procedures will be further standardized, and the career development of online-delivered distributors will gain more room for growth.