Source: 《经济观察报》 September 9, 2023

Website: http://www.eeo.com.cn/2023/0909/604791.shtml

经济观察报 Reporter Tian Jin

At 10 PM on September 3, when Wu Feng, 37, came home from work and took off his riding uniform, his day of galloping was really over. On the table was the usual meal his wife had left for him. At this time, his wife and children have gone to bed.

At 8 a.m. the next morning, he had to take his oldest daughter to primary school and then his youngest son, 3, to kindergarten. Almost every day, this half hour is one of the few times he can meet and chat with his children. Then, he will rush to the takeout platform site to report, open the "9-10" work.

In this small city of only 360,000 people, he has maintained this pace of life for six years. Wu Feng's takeout platform site, there are still more than ten old employees like him, and more new employees are still pouring in one after another.

With no complaints or compliments, he said the takeaway rider was the best job he could have had. "In the county, if you do not have a diploma and want to get a salary of more than 5,000 yuan/month, most of them can only choose to go out for work or look for construction sites that can be settled at the end of the year locally." In the village, there is no high or low occupation, and only if you don't earn money will you be looked down upon."

Recently, an article about a college professor delivering food has pushed the topic of food delivery riders into the spotlight. This is not the first time that takeaway riders have been concerned by public opinion, from the article "Takeaway riders trapped in the system" in September 2020 to the article "A deputy director of the Beijing People's Social Bureau experienced delivery and earned 41 yuan in 12 hours" in April 2021, the survival status of takeaway riders has repeatedly become a hot topic of public concern.

According to the official definition, about 200 million people are currently employed flexibly, accounting for about 27 percent of the country's employment. Among them, the most discussed is the flexible employment personnel relying on the Internet platform, including more than 10 million takeout riders, more than 4 million couriers and nearly 6 million online car drivers, they are also known as new employment forms.

In May 2021, the Economic Observer published "Underpinning Platform Employment: How to Offset Risks for 200 million new urban Workers?" The present situation of the lack of protection for the flexible employment group is described. Now, after more than two years, from the policy level, gradually break the household registration restrictions on flexible employment groups to pay employees' social security, implement occupational injury insurance pilots to platform enterprises to explore more protection methods, some changes have quietly occurred.

Feng Shuaizhang, director of the Institute of Economic and Social Research at Jinan University, said: "No country in the world has faced such a large number of flexible employment, and flexible employment has become a general trend in the world's employment, and countries are exploring in terms of security." We need to find a flexible employment protection model that suits the current national conditions."

In Feng Shuaizhang's view, a lot of progress has been made in the protection of flexible employment groups in the past few years, but maintaining the status quo is not enough. For example, the social security system can be designed to be more flexible according to the characteristics of high income volatility and low employment stability of people with flexible employment. Even refer to foreign countries, in the take-out or online car industry, first explore some special protection programs.

The role of the delivery platform

Since the birth of the takeout platform, what role it should play in the protection of riders and how much responsibility it should take has been concerned.

According to the existing law, labor contracts or labor dispatch are subject to the Labor Contract Law, which means that enterprises are required to pay social insurance (including employee pension insurance, medical insurance, work-related injury insurance) to employees; The delivery platform uses labor outsourcing to hire delivery riders, and the two parties are labor relations, so the Labor Contract Law is not applicable, but the Contract Law is applicable.

This means that the delivery platform does not pay social security for riders is not in violation of the relevant legal provisions, but the controversy often stems from this.

Qiao Qingmei, an associate professor at the School of Labor and Human Resources at Renmin University of China, is one of the dissenting voices. She believes that the business outsourcing model just avoids the labor relationship between the delivery workers and the platform, which also makes the social security payment responsibility of workers in the platform economy unclear. However, it cannot be said that there is no guarantee without a fixed labor relationship between the two sides, and the platform and outsourcing company have obtained benefits from the labor of the delivery workers, and should take responsibility for their protection.

Qiao Qingmei introduced that in European countries such as Italy and the United Kingdom, Uber drivers have been identified as having labor relations with the platform; In China, takeout brothers and online car drivers are subject to the management and restriction of the platform, and the platform takes a percentage from their income, so it is unreasonable for platform enterprises not to pay social insurance premiums for flexible employment groups.

The opinion of the support side is that the flexible employment mode is different from the traditional employment, and the takeout platform can not form a fixed amount of work requirements for riders such as punching in. Feng Shuaizhang said that the flexible employment group has a high degree of occupational freedom and is not constrained by working hours and working places. At the same time, some takeout riders undertake orders on multiple platforms, and if the platform is forced to pay social security for them, it will also involve the problem of individual repeated payments.

At the same time, if platform companies directly pay social security for riders, it will also mean bearing more costs and responsibilities.

Taking Beijing as an example, the lower limit of social security contribution base for enterprise employees in 2023 will be 6326 yuan. If the take-out platform pays the rider the social security at the lower limit of payment, the rider's individual five insurance costs are 645 yuan (accounting for about 10.2%, deducted from the salary), and the take-out platform needs to bear an additional five insurance costs of 2043 yuan (accounting for about 32.3%) in addition to paying wages.

At present, the delivery platform is still facing the problem of net profit growth - the financial report shows that in 2022, the United States Group net loss of 6.69 billion yuan, until the first half of 2023 to achieve a profit, net profit of nearly 8.3 billion yuan. According to the 2022 Meituan Riders' Rights Protection Social Responsibility Report, 6.24 million riders earned income through Meituan in 2022, a figure that includes non-full-time riders who only delivered a small number of orders. If the US group pays social security for 6.24 million riders at the minimum base, it is a cost of billions of dollars.

"If the social security payment responsibility or social security subsidy responsibility is all transferred to the platform, the platform will also face huge operating pressure, which is not realistic at present," said Geng Xin, chief expert of Zhonghe Cloud Research center.

Under the dispute of several parties, platform enterprises are driven to explore continuously in the system.

In the past two years, the solution provided by some platforms is to first pay employee social security or commercial pension insurance for a small number of people. In the ride-hailing industry, since October 2021, Didi has started to pilot the Didi driver commercial pension scheme in dozens of cities such as Beijing, Chongqing and Wuhan. The operation rule of this model is that if the Didi driver reaches a certain service time in the month, the insurance can begin the next month, and Didi, as the platform side, subsidizes the driver at a ratio of 1:1.

In terms of industrial injury insurance, starting from July 1, 2022, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security began a pilot program for occupational injury protection in seven provinces and cities across the country, which is planned to be piloted for two years. The first batch of pilots in the United States, hungry, Cao Cao travel and other seven platform enterprises. In the event of an individual's occupational injury, the cost of living security and living care shall be borne by the platform, and the treatment of medical rehabilitation, disability and death shall be borne by the fund.

The reporter learned from relevant people that at present, there are millions of riders participating in occupational injury protection pilots every month. The multi-platform rider who receives the order is liable for the single platform that was executing the order at the time of the accident. Occupational injury insurance shall be paid by bill, and the premium shall be borne by the platform.

Feng Shuaizhang believes that platform enterprises definitely need to come up with some funds, which belongs to the burden of enterprises; Secondly, individuals and the government also bear the payment responsibility in social security payment, so the fund expenditure is both a burden and a responsibility for the platform. Paying social security is a balance between the present and the future.

Xue Huiyuan, deputy director of the Social Security Research Center of Wuhan University, said that in the future, platform enterprises can be required to properly provide social security subsidies for flexible employment personnel on the platform, and the government should provide certain financial subsidies for flexible employment personnel. Under this model, social security contributions can be shared by multiple parties (such as the platform, the government, and flexible employment personnel) to reduce the burden on platform enterprises. "In terms of specific cost sharing mode, the platform can provide social security payment subsidies for flexible employees according to their working years; Government agencies can appropriately reduce the social security expenses of flexible employees, or increase the proportion of flexible employees' personal accounts, and increase the enthusiasm of flexible employees to participate in insurance from the two dimensions of reducing costs and improving benefits."

The exploration of social security policy

At present, the "five insurances" involved in employee social insurance are pension, medical, unemployment, work-related injury and maternity insurance. If an individual does not pay the employee pension insurance and medical insurance for flexible employment, he can also choose to pay the urban and rural residents pension insurance and medical insurance. However, unemployment, work-related injury and maternity insurance can only be paid through employee social security channels in most cities. In reality, the "five insurances" are not the same in terms of promotion level and coverage.

According to the statistics bulletin of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the National Medical Insurance Bureau, by the end of 2022, the number of employees who had paid for unemployment insurance, work-related injury insurance and maternity insurance was 240 million, 290 million and 246 million respectively, the number of people who had participated in basic medical insurance was more than 1.34 billion, and the basic endowment insurance covered about 1.05 billion people, far more than the number of people who had paid for unemployment, work-related injury and maternity insurance.

Geng Xin said: "For flexible employment, the most urgent need in the short term is the basic protection of accidental injury; In the medium and long term, we need to further improve the coverage of pension and medical insurance."

The policy level has begun to change the basic protection against accidental injury that is urgently needed in the short term. For a long time before, the safety of takeaway riders was only 3 yuan/day of commercial insurance, and the insurance payment amount and coverage were faced with many limitations, and the degree of protection was not as good as the employee injury insurance.

This situation will change in 2022. On July 1, 2022, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security launched a pilot program of occupational injury protection for new employment forms in seven provinces and cities. At The State Council's regular policy briefing on September 4, Li Zhong, Vice minister of Human Resources and Social Security, said: "The pilot has been more than a year, the effect should be said to be good, and the system is generally stable." As of the end of July 2023, there have been 6.15 million people covered by 7 platform enterprises in 7 provinces and cities, and it should be said that the occupational injury protection rights and interests of relevant personnel have been effectively protected. We will also continue to summarize in practice, explore and improve, and establish and improve occupational injury protection management service norms and operating mechanisms."

For the long-term pension of workers, Geng Xin said that the economic level of some flexible employees determines that they will measure the current income and future protection. If they face greater living pressure such as housing, medical care and education in the current period, they will be forced to pay more attention to the current income, and the future income security will be ranked second.

Even if individuals want to do their best to pay for employee pension and medical insurance at a lower contribution level or for a shorter period of time, the design of the current system unexpectedly becomes a hindrance. For example, the employee pension insurance needs to be insured for 15 years to enjoy relevant benefits after retirement, and the minimum contribution level is also 60% of the average salary of employees in all caliber urban units in the province.

Xue Huiyuan said that the current policy stipulates that the payment period can not be increased by the way of post-payment, but because the working status and income level of flexible employment personnel are unstable, it is easy to stop paying.

Call for the establishment of flexible social security payment system from this point of view. Xue Huiyuan said that the social security supplementary payment policy should be appropriately adjusted to allow flexible employees to pay social security fees and reduce the concerns of flexible employees. Alternatively, the lower limit of the contribution base for flexible employment groups should be appropriately lowered. For example, 40% of the average wage of employees in the full-caliber urban units of the province or the provincial minimum wage standard as the lower limit of the payment base.

Feng Shuaizhang also called for an appropriate reduction in the minimum social security contribution standards for employees. He believes that because the income of flexible employment groups fluctuates greatly, it is recommended to flexibly adjust the amount of their contributions according to their income level. "There are ups and downs in contributions, but overall they are still participating in the social Security system, and the system can determine the level of retirement benefits based on the total amount of contributions."

Secondly, referring to foreign practices, Feng Shuaizhang suggested that for flexible employees whose income exceeds a certain level, they can be required to carry out compulsory insurance according to traditional employees, and the platform enterprises and employees can jointly share the social security payment.

In terms of social security transfer, Geng Xin suggested that you can refer to the German working hour account model, that is, consider the characteristics of multiple employers of flexible employment personnel, and establish a "portable social security" model to allow short-term payment and multiple payment. At present, if an individual changes his workplace, when transferring the pension insurance, the unit contribution part of the pension can only transfer 12% of the individual contribution base, and the individual contribution part can be transferred entirely. "The current model is not conducive to flexible workers who are highly mobile to pay employee social security."

The model of the German working hour account is that the pension contributions of both the unit and the individual are included in the individual account. In the movement of personnel, all the funds in the personal account flow with the individual. Geng Xin said, but this will also put forward higher requirements for public services, relevant institutions need to record each person's personal account situation, you can consider mobilizing market forces outside of public institutions to promote the development of the system.

Three choices for individuals

"For a long time, as a typical flexible employment group, the protection of lorry drivers is often not paid attention to by the public."

As an expert in the protection planning of the card zone with more than 3.4 million registered users, Xu Wen has long been concerned about the living conditions of truck drivers. Now, he says, most truck drivers have more coverage than residents' health insurance.

The reason, Xu said, is that many truck drivers are "gambling" - drivers understand that the job is risky, but when it requires them to pay a certain monthly cost to buy social security or commercial insurance for urban workers, they will weigh whether it is necessary. "Because they don't have a high income, they don't have a strong willingness to pay."

But the benefits of paying social security are visible to the naked eye. Xue Huiyuan said that the main benefit of paying social security is to obtain certain social security rights and interests, including medical insurance benefits, pensions, etc., which help them obtain financial support when facing risks (especially in the risk of major diseases), and have life security in old age. In addition, participating in the insurance can establish a social security payment record, which helps to settle down, loan, rent, house purchase, children's school enrollment, visa application and so on.

For flexible employment personnel, although the law does not force platform enterprises to pay social security for them, it also opens a variety of paths for them to choose, and the system is constantly reformed, and it follows the principle of voluntary.

On May 1, 2023, Shanghai officially relaxed the household registration restrictions for flexible employment personnel to participate in the insurance in Shanghai, which is also a microcosm of the deregulation of household registration restrictions in major cities in the past two years. At present, with the exception of Beijing, all flexible employees can participate in employee pension insurance and employee medical insurance with flexible employment status at the place of employment or domicile.

On the other hand, if you participate in the employee pension insurance with flexible employment status, the individual needs to bear all the responsibility of premium payment, and can choose the appropriate contribution base between 60% and 300% of the average salary of the employed people in the provincial urban units, and the provincial contribution ratio is 20%-25%.

'The income of a considerable number of flexible workers is below the lower limit of the social security contribution base,' Mr. Xue said. 'After they pay social security, their remaining disposable income is very limited, and it is difficult to maintain family expenses.' Secondly, the rights and interests of employee pension insurance and employee medical insurance usually require a certain period of payment, but the work of flexible employment personnel is unstable, and it is easy to stop paying. This will cause them to be unable to enjoy the corresponding social security benefits. As a result, many people will opt out of insurance.

Based on this, this is also the reason why many experts continue to call for reducing the minimum contribution base of employees' social security.

In addition to participating in employee social security, the next best thing for flexible employment workers is to pay residents' medical insurance and residents' pension insurance. These two paths also allow almost the vast majority of people to obtain some degree of security. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2022, about 500 million people had participated in employee pension insurance, and about 550 million people had participated in resident pension insurance. About 360 million people are covered by employee medical insurance, and about 980 million people are covered by resident medical insurance.

Of course, because of the gap in payment, the two paths bring about a significant difference in treatment. According to the data of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, in 2020, the average pension of enterprise employees will be about 2,900 yuan/month. In 2022, the average pension for urban and rural residents will be 189 yuan per month.

Qiao Qingmei said that the key point that needs to be broken through at present is to narrow the gap between the two paths, to provide people with the convenience of enjoying the same treatment, and to achieve the merger of the two paths. In this regard, it is not just "scratching the itch", but needs continuous reform at the government level.

The third path is to pay commercial endowment insurance. Compared with the first two paths, commercial endowment insurance faces the limitation of not being able to play the basic guarantee.

Feng Shuaizhang said that it is a developable model for platform enterprises to pay commercial pension insurance for new employment groups, and the implementation of this system is relatively easy, but it relies more on enterprises and individuals to bear the cost, so commercial insurance cannot completely replace the social security system, and more plays a complementary role. The key now is to reform the social security system.

With the combination of various advantages and disadvantages, the number of flexible employment groups is still expanding rapidly, and even more undergraduate graduates are beginning to enter the market.

According to the National College Student Information Consultation and Career Guidance Center, the flexible employment rate of college graduates in 2020 and 2021 will exceed 16 percent.

In multiple interviews, the view of almost all experts is that the further expansion of the number of flexible employment groups, including new employment forms, has become an inevitable trend. Feng Shuaizhang said that under the vigorous development of the digital economy, the size of new employment groups based on Internet platforms will surely grow further.

On the one hand, in recent years, the number of college graduates in China has been increasing, but the downward economic situation and the saturation of market positions are difficult to provide enough traditional "formal" job opportunities, leading to fierce competition in the talent market, so some college students have turned their attention to flexible employment. Such as we media operation, investment shop, freelance writing, e-commerce operation, etc.; On the other hand, "slow employment" has become a new trend among college students, who are not eager to find a formal job but need a source of income, so they choose a more flexible way of working in the first two years after graduation.

In this context, Feng Shuaizhang said that whether college graduates choose flexible employment needs to be considered in many aspects. In addition to the lack of security, the sustainability of flexible jobs is relatively poor, and platform enterprises are also difficult to provide more skills training than traditional enterprises, which is easy to lead to the lack of long-term career planning and skills accumulation of college graduates engaged in flexible employment, and thus have an adverse impact on career development.