New forms of employment — based on the development of the gig economy, platform jobs and flexible work — have grown into important channels for Chinese people to enrich their career options and increase incomes, and the government will step up efforts to improve the workers' rights by optimizing social security programs.

On Thursday, the newly unveiled draft government work report said that the nation will draw up policies to support flexible workers and people in new forms of employment such as deliverymen, ride-hailing drivers and livestreamers to get engaged in more inclusive social security programs.

Previously, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said that China currently has over 200 million flexible workers.

Some experts and recruitment portals have noted that in 2025, both the number of job openings and job seekers in new forms of employment have increased thanks to the development of the digital economy and services industry, apart from the government's supportive policies on promoting employment.

Figures from a recent report by recruitment portal Zhaopin and Jinan University in Guangdong province show that the number of job openings in new forms of employment increased by 15.1 percent in 2025, while the number of job seekers in the sector grew by 11 percent.

The report classified new forms of employment into two major categories — location-based and cloud-based, with the former undertaking and completing platform orders at certain geopositions, like ride-hailing drivers and food delivery people, and the latter performing online services without location restrictions, such as online consultants and livestreamers.

The report pointed out that people serving in location-based jobs are mainly based in larger cities or metropolises like Beijing and Shanghai, which are densely populated and have local residents with stronger consumption needs for services. These jobs usually set a lower threshold for prospective employees with respect to their education levels and work skills.

People taking up cloud-based jobs, however, have shown an increasing tendency to live in smaller cities as their services have no space restrictions.

"We've noted that in first-tier cities or larger cities which have a stronger economy and where people have stronger consumption needs, the location-based job openings and job seekers of that kind are more than those in smaller cities, as workers have to complete online or platform orders at specified locations. However, cloud-based jobs like livestreaming don't have such location restrictions on workers, thanks to which livestreamers can live in smaller cities and sell products all over the country," said Feng Shuaizhang, dean of the Institute of Economic and Social Research at Jinan University.

While location-based jobs are mainly sought by males, cloud-based jobs are mostly favored by females.

The report said that in 2025, 75.4 percent of job seekers for location-based posts were males and 60.2 percent of those pursuing cloud-based jobs were females as these jobs require lighter physical strength, but have a higher flexibility in working hours and focus more on people-to-people communication and content creation.

The report also noted that cloud-based jobs are more attractive to younger job seekers while location-based jobs provide a "safety net" for middle-aged workers. It said that in 2025, 65.1 percent of those applying for cloud-based jobs were aged between 21 and 30.

Li Qiang, vice-president of Zhaopin, said that flexible employment and new forms of employment have become very important channels for the working class to increase their incomes and ease the nation's structural imbalance of employment.

"Many workers who used to serve in traditional industries, college graduates and migrant workers get flexibly employed or rehired thanks to the development of flexible employment and new forms of employment.

"However, we can't ignore problems like rights protection for flexible workers and people in new forms of employment, who may have a weaker sense of security and a weaker ability to handle career risks due to 'legal gray areas' in defining labor relations, social insurance payment and working-related injuries," he said, adding that opaque rules and algorithms by platforms may also pose challenges to workers, like unstable incomes, uncontrollable work intensity and undefined career prospects.

Feng, the dean from Jinan University, also noted these problems and said that the government can draw up specific policies to secure working rights and social insurance payment of flexible workers and people in new forms of employment, and tighten supervision of platforms' algorithms to ensure their workers get fairer treatment and payment.

chengsi@chinadaily.com.cn