The legal protection for China's flexible workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

AuthorChen Jingyuan
Position(???) Ph.D. in Civil and Commercial Law, School of Law, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China; Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Law, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Contact: chenjy1216@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
Pages79-103
FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA
VOL. 16 MARCH 2021 NO. 1
DOI 10.3868/s050-010-021-0005-0
FOCUS
PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS DURING COVID-19
THE LEGAL PROTECTION FOR CHINAS FLEXIBLE WORKERS
DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
CHEN Jingyuan*
Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a chain of socioeconomic effects
worldwide. China’s social and economic operations and labor market have also been
suffered because of this global crisis. During hard times, flexible employment becomes
an important means for stabilizing employment. However, the pandemic also exposed
the problems ensuing from insufficient legal protection for flexible workers. First, there
are some gaps and defects in the labor and social security laws in terms of their scope
and applicability to flexible workers. Second, there were limitations in the support and
protection policies for flexible workers at the early stages of the pandemic. Although the
government implemented measures soon after the outbreak of COVID-19, their role is
still constrained by the legal lacunae in protecting flexible workers. As flexible
employment will continue to play a significant role in China’s labor market, the State
Council issued a far-reaching official document in July 28, 2020 to support it. This
document indicates the directions for providing better legal protection for flexible
workers, which contains expanding the legal scope and enriching the legal protection.
Based on the realities and latest policies, the legal protection for flexible workers should
be systemically improved in the future.
Keywords COVID-19, flexible workers, legal protection, new forms of employment
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 80
I. THE STATUS QUO OF LEGAL PROTECTION FOR FLEXIBLE WORKERS ........................ 81
A. The Definition of “Flexible Workers” in China .................................................. 82
B. Relevant Legislation............................................................................................ 84
1. Making Special Protective Legislation .........................................................84
2. Expanding the Scope of Comprehensive Legislation ..................................85
II. THE ABSENCE OF PROTECTION FOR FLEXIBLE WORKERS DURING THE COVID-19
* (󳌝󳐫󲲱) Ph.D. in Civil and Commercial Law, School of Law, Renmin University of China, Beijing,
China; Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Law, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Contact:
chenjy1216@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
80 FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA [Vol. 16: 79
PANDEMIC................................................................................................................ 86
A. The Inherent Legal Lacunae in the Labor and Social Security Laws.................. 87
1. The Employment Promotion Law................................................................. 87
2. Labor Law....................................................................................................... 88
3. The Social Insurance Law.............................................................................. 90
B. Protection and Support Policies during the Pandemic and Their
Limitations .......................................................................................................... 92
III. THE LATE S T DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PROTECTION FOR FLEXIBLE WORKERS ........ 94
A. Expanding the Scope of Flexible Workers ........................................................... 94
B. Enriching Protection for Flexible Workers ......................................................... 96
IV. SYSTEMIC REFLECTION ON LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR FLEXIBLE WORKERS IN THE
FUTURE ................................................................................................................... 97
A. Toward a Systemic Classification of Flexible Workers........................................ 98
B. Improving Legislation and Administration of Protection for Flexible Workers ... 100
C. Identifying Disguised Employment ...................................................................102
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................ 103
INTRODUCTION
COVID-19 is the most widespread global pandemic that mankind has suffered from
in this century. It has posed a serious threat to the world. The crisis has already
transformed into an economic and labor market shock, impacting not only supply
(production of goods and services) but also demand (consumption and investment).1 The
sudden outbreak also had a major impact on China’s economy and social operations.
During the pandemic, the pressure on the domestic economy and employment increased
significantly. According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, all
indicators for the labor market were poor in the first quarter of 2020. The unemployment
rate in urban surveys rose sharply from 5.3% in January to 6.2% in February, indicating
the largest increase since the release of such data, and remained at 5.9% in March2. The
employment situation of key groups also deteriorated, with the number of migrant
workers decreasing from 170 million at the end of 2019 to 120 million at the end of
February 2020, and the unemployment rate of young people aged 16 to 24 years reaching
a high of 13%.3
1 ILO Monitor 1st Edition, COVID-19 and the World of Work: Impact and Policy Responses, (2020), at 2,
available at https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/brie fingnote/
wcms_738753.pdf (last visited Oct. 5, 2020).
2 See National Bureau of Statistics of China, 󳈜󲣘󰒺󱁜󰏝󰉅󰁃 (The Monthly Data of the
Urban Surveyed Unemployment Rate), available at https://data.stats.gov.cn/easyquery.htm?cn=A01 (last
visited Oct. 5, 2020).
3 See ZENG Xiangquan, 󱊀󱍙: 󱓂󰏴󰦷󳉔󰏴󰏰 (China’s Employment Market
under the Impact of the Pandemic: Short-Term Fluctuation and Long-Term Prospect), available at
http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/sjjd/202009/t20200928_1792070.html (last visited Oct. 1, 2020).

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT