Human resources ministry codifies second-tier status for 84 million gig workers as delivery platforms tighten algorithmic quotas
人社部拟立法坐实8400万零工“二等”用工身份，外卖平台算法配额暗中加码
- The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released draft regulations institutionalizing an 'incomplete employment' tier that denies 84 million gig workers statutory labor contracts. 人社部发布法规草案，将“不完全符合确立劳动关系”予以制度化，剥夺了8400万平台零工签署法定劳动合同的权利。
- Delivery conglomerates like Meituan promoted cosmetic reforms like red-light pause timers across 4,253 intersections in Wuxi while replacing direct cash fines with opaque service-score demerits. 美团等外卖巨头在无锡4253个路口高调推行“等灯停表”等表面化改良，实则将直接扣款转变为更加不透明的“服务分”扣减惩罚。
- Chinese netizens and delivery couriers denounced the ministerial decree as a legal charter for exploitation that shields tech monopolies from employer social security contributions. 大陆网民和外卖骑手痛斥人社部新规无异于“给平台剥削发准生证”，旨在替互联网巨头免除应承担的雇主社保缴费义务。
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security published draft regulations creating a formal intermediate labor category for 84 million gig workers, Xinhua and NetEase News reported. The decree legalizes an underclass. The measures classify couriers and drivers as holding an incomplete employment relationship, an administrative label denying them standard contracts and employer pensions. Food delivery platforms like Meituan responded with performative concessions, touting an automated red-light pause feature across 4,253 intersections in Wuxi to freeze countdown timers. Payouts keep dropping anyway.
The policy is an exercise in Pretextual Cloaking and Regulatory Arbitrage. The promise is hollow. Regulators dusted off the playbook from the 2021 tech crackdowns, exempting tech firms from payroll obligations under the 2008 Labor Contract Law while claiming to tame algorithmic exploitation. To contain worker friction without depressing platform profits, authorities allowed tech firms to run a pervasive Digital Panopticon—substituting cash fines with opaque service-score demerits that secretly throttle future dispatches. The surveillance only tightened.
By formalizing this second tier, the party-state shields corporate balance sheets at the expense of an exhausted populace. The trap remains shut. With youth unemployment hitting 18.9 percent this autumn, gig platforms function as the regime’s primary political shock absorber against unrest, forcing millions of university graduates and displaced factory hands to compete for pennies in an oversaturated market. Party officials praise flexible labor while passing every risk of workplace maiming and destitute old age directly onto citizens. The algorithm rules.
据新华社与网易新闻报道，中国人社部发布法规草案，正式确立了一个涵盖8400万平台零工的过渡性用工类别。该法令实质上让一个权利被剥夺的底层群体合法化。新规将外卖骑手与司机定性为“不完全符合确立劳动关系”，这一行政标签剥夺了他们签署标准劳动合同及享受雇主统筹养老金的权利。美团等外卖平台则做出表演式的让步姿态，宣称在无锡4253个路口上线智能“等灯停表”功能以暂停送餐倒计时。然而，每单的实际派件费仍在持续缩水。
这项政策是一场典型的借口掩饰与监管套利。官方承诺苍白无力。监管机构重新拿出了2021年针对科技平台整顿时的老套路：一边声称要遏制算法对骑手的压榨，一边却公然豁免科技企业依据2008年《劳动合同法》本应承担的法定雇主社保义务。为了在不削弱平台利润的前提下平息劳工反弹，当局默许互联网企业构建全方位的数字全景监狱——用不透明的“服务分”扣减取代直接现金罚款，从而在暗中限制违规骑手未来的派单权益。监控锁链反而越收越紧。
通过将这种二等用工身份制度化，党国机器不惜以榨干疲惫不堪的底层民众为代价，力保科技巨头的财务报表。生存陷阱依然深重。今秋青年失业率已攀升至18.9%，零工平台成了政权防止社会动荡的最主要“减震器”，迫使数以百万计的大学毕业生和失业工人涌入过度饱和的市场互相竞次、挣扎求生。党政官员一方面高调颂扬“灵活就业”，另一方面却将每一次工伤残疾与老无所依的风险全盘甩给普通百姓。算法的残酷统治依旧在继续。
The draft regulations triggered caustic mockery across Weibo, Zhihu, and NetEase comment sections, where delivery riders and blue-collar workers condemned the three-tier framework as 'giving exploitation an official business license' (*给剥削发了准生证*). Netizens savaged the 'incomplete labor relationship' (*不完全符合确立劳动关系情形*) label as an administrative fiction designed solely to absolve tech platforms of pension and healthcare contributions: 'If we wear their uniform, take their orders, follow their GPS, and get penalized by their software, how is that an incomplete relationship?' Others pointed out that PR measures like Wuxi's 'traffic-light pause timers' (*等灯停表*) do nothing about collapsing per-order payouts, which have plunged to as little as 3 yuan per delivery. As one viral comment put it: 'They stopped the clock for sixty seconds at a red light, but cut fifty cents off our pay. The algorithm still owns our lives.'
征求意见稿在微博、知乎及网易新闻评论区引来一片辛辣嘲讽，外卖骑手与蓝领劳工痛斥这种三分类用工制度无异于“给剥削发了准生证”。网民怒斥“不完全符合确立劳动关系情形”这种行政伪称，本质上纯粹是为了替科技平台免除养老与医疗保险负担：“穿着平台制服、接平台的单、听平台的导航路线，被算法扣分罚款，这怎么就叫‘不完全劳动关系’？”还有人指出，无锡试点的“等灯停表”等公关宣传，对每单配送费跌至3元一单的断崖式下滑毫无帮助。一条获得广泛转发的高赞评论写道：“红灯多给你停了一分钟表，背后却把配送单价砍了五毛。算法依然主宰着我们的命。”
The Cyberspace Administration of China issued strict guidance to platform censors to suppress reporting on gig-worker labor strikes and driver suicides, ordering news feeds to amplify official Ministry of Human Resources talking points celebrating 'improved labor safeguards.' On Sina Weibo, topic tags regarding delivery rider fee cuts and algorithm traps were removed from the top 50 search rankings, while state media outlets like CCTV and Xinhua disabled user comments or activated 'curated comments only' (*评论精选*) under their reporting on the draft decree. Zhihu discussions analyzing how the 'incomplete employment' tier violates the core intent of the 2008 Labor Contract Law were quietly purged or down-ranked by content moderation filters.
国家网信办向各大平台审查机构下达指令，严防关于零工群体停工抗议与骑手极端维权事件的报道，要求信息流突出人社部宣称“强化劳动保障”的官方定调。新浪微博上有关骑手降薪与算法陷阱的话题标签被移出热搜榜前50名，央视、新华社等官媒在发布草案报道时普遍关闭评论或开启“评论精选”。知乎上分析“不完全劳动关系”如何实质性架空2008年《劳动合同法》立法初衷的深度剖析文章，遭审查算法悄然封杀或降权屏蔽。
China's gig economy has become the regime's primary political shock absorber for severe youth and white-collar unemployment, absorbing over 84 million flexible workers—including millions of recent university graduates and laid-off manufacturing workers. In August 2026, youth unemployment among 16-to-24-year-olds hit 18.9%, leaving ride-hailing and food delivery as the only immediate survival option for millions of households. Under China's 2008 Labor Contract Law, formal employers are legally required to pay statutory social security contributions that add 30 to 40 percent to basic payroll costs. By inventing an intermediate 'incomplete relationship' tier rather than enforcing standard employment contracts, the Ministry of Human Resources has insulated tech conglomerates like Meituan and Alibaba from crippling social security liabilities, passing the entire financial burden of disability, illness, and retirement onto impoverished workers.
中国的零工经济已成为中共当局化解青年及白领群体严峻失业危机的核心“维稳蓄水池”，吸纳了逾8400万灵活就业人员——其中包括数以百万计的高校应届毕业生和制造业下岗职工。2026年8月，全国16至24岁青年失业率飙升至18.9%，跑外卖与开网约车成为数百万家庭当下维系生计的唯一底线选择。依照中国2008年颁布的《劳动合同法》，标准用工单位依法须为员工缴纳“五险一金”，此项开支通常占用人成本的30%至40%。人社部未选择严格落实标准劳动合同，而是凭空发明所谓折中的“不完全符合确立劳动关系”形态，事实上为美团、阿里巴巴等互联网巨头筑起了免责防火墙，彻底将工伤、疾病与养老的全部沉重成本转嫁给本就艰难的底层劳动者。