Abstract
This research is based on empirical surveys conducted in two Chinese cities, Beijing and Chengdu, which examine employment relationships, labor protection and social protection in the new digital economy. Through these theoretically informed surveys on various forms of employment via online platforms, we have found that the organizational principles and functional patterns of employment have profoundly transformed in the epoch of digitalization. The traditional employment relationship characterized by written contracts with clearly defined entitlements and obligations for employers and employees have been increasingly substituted by new volatile, fluid and fragile employment forms, softening the labor rights and social rights of “digital employees” and strengthening social control over them through online evaluation systems supported by smart phones and apps. The employees engaged in the online sharing economy have become more individualized and atomized than ever before, resulting in the emergence of an unorganized and disenfranchised “digital working class”.
Highlights
Modern labor protection systems corresponding to the material economy are jointly established by governments, employers and unions
According to the Report on the Development of the Sharing Economy in China, released by the Chinese State Information Center (SIC) in 2017, platform workers were concentrated in the area of living services and driving; in 2016, the former had a scale of 20 million workers and the latter numbered more than 18 million [17]
Most of them do not fall under the purview of any of the protections typical for an employment relationship, such as paid holidays, a minimum wage, occupational safety and health, sick leave, unemployment, or retirement pension, to name a few [20,21]
Summary
Modern labor protection systems corresponding to the material economy are jointly established by governments, employers and unions. Existing frameworks for employment legislation and social policies created by governments (such as minimum wages, paid holidays and sick leave, occupation safety and health) are built around and delivered through traditionally organized business firms [1]. A definitive and relatively consistent employment relationship relying on a labor contract is the premise for employees to obtain the above-named labor protections. Labor unions are important organizations to safeguard the rights and interests of workers. The emergence of such comprehensive labor protection coincides with industrialization and the diffusion of the mass production methods of capitalism. In the post-war period, the expansion of various labor protection measures in many different regions has caused the rapid development of Western welfare states into an explosive development trajectory [3]
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