Platform economy and China’s labor market: structural transformation and policy challenges

ABSTRACT The development of platform economy has accelerated the change of the nature of work, namely from manual labor to automation, from off-line to online, and from fixed employment to flexible arrangement. The share of gig workers is quickly increasing in the Chinese labor market. The structural transformation of labor market partly reflects the trend of dis-organization, featured with division of production procedures, restructuring of tasks, and large-scale outsourcing. While traditional single-employer full-time jobs are replaced by self-employment and gig jobs, the employment relationship is experiencing structural transformation, too. The current labor protection and social security systems face great challenges both in China and globally. Establishment of a flexible and portable benefit account for gig workers could be potential options to address these challenges.