Revised labor rules sought as gig work rises

Researcher urges better protection of rights for people with 'new forms of jobs'

Data from a recent survey showed that a growing number of people in China are working in the gig economy, a fact that experts said underscores the dire need to overhaul labor rules to better protect these people from long, grueling work hours, inadequate social security coverage and other issues.

About 84 million of the country's 402 million workers are engaged in "new forms of jobs", which include jobs in the gig economy, according to the Ninth National Survey on the Status of the Workforce. The term has been used in recent years in official documents to refer to jobs that are mostly based online and are less mainstream, such as drivers for car-hailing services, food delivery workers and couriers.

The number of nontraditional workers has become significant enough that the twice-a-decade survey has depicted them as a "crucial component" of the country's workforce. The survey was conducted by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions last year, and its findings were published last month.