China’s 200m gig workers are a warning for the world
T he biggest workforce in the world has undergone an extraordinary transformation. China’s farm labourers and industrial proletariat have been joined by an army of gig workers. Tens of millions now use tech platforms to find jobs for fleeting periods; fully 200m, or 40% of the urban labour force, depend on some kind of flexible work. The fortunes of these precarious workers, many of whom struggle to buy property and gain access to public services and benefits, will shape China’s economy and society for years to come. As technology remakes labour markets, China’s gig workers offer lessons for countries everywhere. Thanks in part to its early embrace of the “superapps” that organise many facets of people’s lives, China is home to the world’s most advanced gig economy. Today 84m people there rely on platform-based forms of employment, including ride-hailing drivers and food-delivery riders. As consumer apps have spread, this sort of work has become prevalent across emerging Asia, too. In