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China’s future rests on 200 million precarious workers
They may work in factories or for delivery apps, but are united by common struggles.
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Although some gig workers have moved from formal jobs to informal ones as they have aged, many are young, unattached men with dim economic prospects.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Economist
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Mr Chu Xin’s search for work has taken him on a journey this summer. First he travelled some 1,500km from his home in China’s deep south-west to Shenzhen, a bustling manufacturing hub across from Hong Kong. Next was a bus another 1,500km north to Kunshan, which churns out electronics, where he twisted tiny screws into phone parts for 10 hours a day. That was mind-numbingly dull; by day five he had had enough. So he grabbed his few belongings and headed south – ready for the next stage in his odyssey.
Mr Chu’s story is in some senses extraordinary. But in others it is very ordinary. He is one of 200 million-odd people in China whom the state considers to be “flexible workers”, a broad category that includes all those who fall outside standard forms of employment.
