The Legal Protection for China's Flexible Workers during the Covid-19 Pandemic

• Published in: Frontiers of law in China 2021-03, Vol.16 (1), p.79-103
• Main Author: Jingyuan, Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: China; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Employment; Epidemics; flexible workers; Labor market; Laws, regulations and rules; legal protection; new forms of employment; Pandemics; Social security; Socioeconomic factors
• ISSN: 1673-3428; 1673-3541
• DOI: 10.3868/s050-010-021-0005-0

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a chain of socioeconomic effects worldwide. China’s social and economic operations and labor market have also been suffered because of this global crisis. During hard times, flexible employment becomes an important means for stabilizing employment. However, the pandemic also exposed the problems ensuing from insufficient legal protection for flexible workers. First, there are some gaps and defects in the labor and social security laws in terms of their scope and applicability to flexible workers. Second, there were limitations in the support and protection policies for flexible workers at the early stages of the pandemic. Although the government implemented measures soon after the outbreak of COVID-19, their role is still constrained by the legal lacunae in protecting flexible workers. As flexible employment will continue to play a significant role in China’s labor market, the State Council issued a far-reaching official document in July 28, 2020 to support it. This document indicates the directions for providing better legal protection for flexible workers, which contains expanding the legal scope and enriching the legal protection. Based on the realities and latest policies, the legal protection for flexible workers should be systemically improved in the future.