There are more and more flexible employment personnel such as online car-hailing drivers, takeaway riders, and driving agents——
Have you ever worked "part-time jobs" after work?
At 5 pm on September 16, Master Zhang got off work.
Sitting in his car and opening a certain online car-hailing software, he changed from an enterprise employee to an online car-hailing driver.
"Every day after work, it is idle to go home early. It is better to open an online car and make some gas money." Master Zhang told reporters.
At about 8 o'clock in the evening, Master Zhang stopped work and went home.
"I just treat it as a side job. If one day feels tired, I will go home directly after work." With flexible time and no delay in his job, Master Zhang likes to drive online car-hailing, and he can also increase his income every month.
Nowadays, more and more office workers like Master Zhang are starting to do odd jobs, and even many people are starting to do odd jobs full-time.
Online ride-hailing drivers, takeaway riders, and on behalf of driving... more and more flexible employment, the "gig economy" is quietly emerging.
From "gig job" to "gig economy"
Speaking of doing odd jobs, Li, who was in his 60s, suddenly thought of his father.
"My father has a formal job, but after work, he always goes to some factories and shops to do some physical work to earn some extra money and subsidize the family." There are four Lao Li brothers and sisters. In that era, it was not easy for his father to support his family.
The experience of Lao Li's father should be understood by older people, especially those born in the 50s and 60s.
Even if they haven't experienced it personally, many of their relatives and friends have had similar experiences.
At the end of the 1970s, with the reform and opening up, township and village enterprises in the southeast coastal areas sprang up, but they lacked technology and equipment.
As a result, the government and enterprises hire engineers from local retired skilled workers or factories and scientific research institutions in cities such as 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 work part-time in township and village enterprises to help enterprises overcome difficulties.” said Jin Ge, a researcher at Peking University.
With the rapid economic development, "part-time jobs" have become more and more common.
"Although some companies or factories have great demand for employment, due to insufficient information technology, timely matching cannot be achieved." Jin Ge said.
This phenomenon of mismatch between supply and demand has gradually been broken by the birth and development of the Internet, and has begun to develop towards the "gig economy".
The "gig economy" refers to a short and flexible work style 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 the Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, pointed out that the most important feature of the "gig economy" is its dependence on Internet technology. Carry out business and delivery work, such as professional services for online legal and financial consulting, creative and multimedia services, online marketing support, software and technology development, writing and translation, etc.
At the end of last year, the "Development Status, Social Impact and Policy Recommendations of the Gig Economy in the Internet Age" issued by the Institute of Economics, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, showed that the "gig economy" is becoming an important force and Promote new growth points for the high-quality development of the national economy.
In 2019, China’s “gig economy” contributed 10.43% to the total increase in GDP. It is estimated that by 2035, this proportion will increase to 13.26%, accounting for 6.82% of GDP.
The new format of "gig economy" is sweeping the world.
Statistics show that in the United States and Europe, 10% to 15% of the working-age population earn a living by doing "parties", and 10% to 15% of people use "parties" as a sideline in addition to their main business. The actual number of participants is More than 160 million people.
"A hobby can also bring a lot of benefits"
The traditional "part-time job" adopts the "enterprise-employee" model, where companies provide positions and individuals apply for positions.
After all, the individual is still part of the business.
The "gig economy" has changed this model and transformed it into a "platform-individual" model, where the platform provides employment needs and individuals make choices.
This is an upgrade to the traditional model. It is not only companies, but also individuals who can publish their needs on the platform.
Take online car-hailing as an example. Individuals need to use a car, and their car-hailing needs will be posted on the online car-hailing platform, and online car-hailing drivers will grab orders to meet customers' car needs.
Customers paying the fare can be regarded as remuneration.
Couriers, takeaway riders, and driving agents all adopt this new model.
"The platform has become a medium for the docking of labor providers and demanders in the'gig economy' to achieve rapid matching of supply and demand." Zhang Xiaheng, associate professor of the Business School of Northwest University of Political Science and Law, believes that this is the preference of a large number of laborers with supply capabilities, working hours and skills. The important reason for “parties”.
Xiao Yang is a programmer and loves photography. In his spare time, he often takes pictures around with his camera.
After taking good-looking photos, Xiao Yang will upload them to some commercial image websites.
Every time a picture is downloaded, he gets a corresponding share, and he can earn hundreds of dollars 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, each time the salary ranges from a few hundred yuan to thousands of yuan.
"I didn't expect that a hobby can bring me a lot of benefits!" Xiao Yang said with a smile.
This is the charm of the "gig economy".
The remuneration is settled in real time, and strictly follows the principle of more work, more reward.
Like Xiao Yang, the more times his photos are downloaded, the higher his income; the longer he participates in commercial filming activities and the greater the number of films, the higher the cost to him.
"Nowadays, many young people rely on'part-time jobs' to obtain income, which may be higher than their own jobs." Jin Ge said.
Relative freedom of time, no fixed location, independent determination of content, etc. are also characteristics of the "gig economy".
There is also a distinctive feature of the Internet-customer evaluation.
Those "gig economy" practitioners who have more high-quality evaluations can reap more opportunities and higher incomes.
Based on this, more and more young people are joining the "gig economy".
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 energy and time will try more careers according to their abilities and interests.
Yan Fei said that as an emerging economic model, the "gig economy" breaks through the limitations of traditional economic models in time and space, reduces the cost of market information transmission, provides employment opportunities for more workers, and facilitates the orderly operation of the economy and society. Provided strong support.
Strengthen various protections for practitioners
Xiao Wang is an illustrator who is a freelancer and uses an order-based cooperation model.
"If I have inspiration during this period, I will take more orders, and if I feel more tired, I will take fewer orders. The main thing depends on the mood." Xiao Wang said.
Flexible working hours make Xiao Wang happy physically and mentally, but he also faces some problems, the biggest one of which is social security.
With the further development of the "gig economy", many people may choose to abandon their main occupations and start doing "gig jobs" full-time.
This phenomenon is becoming more and more common in industries such as online car-hailing, food delivery, and live broadcasting. Other freelancers will also have more full-time odd jobs in the future.
How to protect the pension insurance, medical insurance, etc. and labor rights of these practitioners needs to be resolved urgently.
According to data released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the number of flexible employment employees in China is about 200 million, and a considerable part of them are "gig economy" practitioners.
According to predictions by relevant agencies, by 2036, there will be 400 million employees in the "gig economy".
Since last year, takeaway riders have attracted great attention from the society due to their high-intensity work and low-level security.
Many people began to reflect and called for strengthening the labor rights protection of practitioners in new business formats including the "gig economy".
To this end, in July this year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other eight departments issued the "Guiding Opinions on Safeguarding Labor Security Rights and Interests of Workers in New Employment Forms", which clearly "supervised and urged enterprises to participate in social insurance in accordance with the law. The guidance and support of enterprises are not fully in line with the establishment of labor relations. According to the new employment situation, workers participate in the corresponding social insurance according to their own conditions.” The State Administration for Market Regulation and other 7 departments issued the “Guiding Opinions on Implementing the Responsibilities of Online Catering Platforms and Effectively Protecting the Rights and Interests of Food Deliverymen”, urging the platform to establish labor relations Of take-out food delivery personnel participate in social insurance, and support other food delivery personnel to participate in social insurance.
"If these'gig economy' practitioners are not included in the social security system, it will exacerbate the risks related to population aging." Jin Ge said that only by participating in social security can the worries of practitioners in new business formats be effectively alleviated. The overall consumption structure and population of the society The structure is expected to be optimized.
The supervision of platforms and enterprises should also be put in place to prevent "policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom".
In this regard, Zhang Xiaheng suggested that relevant departments should increase punishment for violations of laws and regulations through regular or irregular random inspections and verifications, 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 suggested that the construction of commercial insurance, especially commercial pension insurance, should be accelerated.
In May of this year, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a notice on launching exclusive commercial endowment insurance pilots, and starting from June 1st, exclusive commercial endowment insurance pilots will be launched in Zhejiang and Chongqing.
It is understood that the exclusive commercial pension insurance will be more flexible in terms of payment and receiving benefits, and is more in line with the actual situation of flexible employees. This will provide more choices for practitioners in the "gig economy".
Zhang Yiqi