2025.02.24

Recently, JD.com and Meituan announced that they will gradually provide social insurance for eligible delivery riders, marking 2023 as the inaugural year of social insurance for China's delivery riders. Offering social insurance to these riders is undoubtedly a significant step in safeguarding workers' rights, but it has also stirred up a storm of discussion.

A reporter from Yicai spoke with several delivery riders and found varying attitudes toward paying social insurance. Factors such as whether the riders are single or married, have children, or live in large or smaller cities influence their decisions regarding social insurance. After all, social insurance is not the entirety of workers' rights—income levels and job opportunities are equally crucial to their immediate interests.

Several experts interviewed by Yicai believe that the efforts made by platform companies to provide social security for delivery riders are commendable. However, to ensure this good initiative is effectively implemented, platforms and relevant government departments need to fully consider various factors, including the needs of workers, the differences between flexible employment and traditional employment models, and the optimization of the social security system.

CBN also learned that there is a broader consensus within the industry on policy approaches to enhance the inclusiveness and adaptability of the social insurance system. This involves using flexibility to address flexibility, and gradually incorporating various flexible workers, including delivery riders, into the social insurance coverage in a categorized and step-by-step manner.

Authoritative sources indicate that workers in new business formats, due to unclear labor relations, flexible working methods, and unstable incomes, find it difficult to directly participate in traditional social insurance systems that are based on their employers. There is a need to actively research and improve relevant policy measures such as lowering thresholds and providing insurance subsidies to include them in the social insurance coverage as much as possible.

Multiple platforms provide social security for riders

JD.com announced that starting from a certain year and month, it will gradually provide full-time delivery riders with social insurance and housing fund, and offer accident insurance and health insurance to part-time riders. Meituan announced that it is currently building an information system related to rider social insurance, which is expected to be implemented starting from the second quarter of a certain year, gradually providing social insurance for full-time and stable part-time riders. Ele.me also stated that it has initiated a pilot program for the social insurance of Blue Knights starting from a certain year and month, and continues to increase the intensity and scope of special subsidies for stable riders.

China's social security system is primarily built on the labor relationship between employers and employees. Without such a relationship, the social insurance rights of food delivery riders cannot be fully guaranteed. Therefore, the proactive promotion of social security contributions by food delivery platforms not only addresses the riders' concerns regarding medical care and retirement but also, through the recognition of labor relations, grants them the status of workers, enabling them to enjoy statutory rights such as minimum wage and rest and vacation.

Li Gan, Deputy Director of the Youth Scholars Committee of the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Society, stated that China's social insurance system includes two major modules: urban employee social insurance and urban and rural resident social insurance. The former is oriented towards labor relations, with mandatory participation and unified participation in five types of insurance as the principle, where both employers and employees share the contributions; the latter is based on voluntary participation, focusing mainly on pension insurance and medical insurance, with individuals bearing the contributions. Additionally, China has flexible employment social insurance, which combines some characteristics of both modules. Based on the principle of voluntary participation, local rates usually refer to urban employee social insurance and participate in the overall planning of urban employee social insurance.

From the information currently disclosed by food delivery platforms, JD.com's proposal to pay for five social insurances and one housing fund clearly includes delivery riders in the employee social insurance system. Meituan has not specified the scope of "social insurance" contributions, but based on the statement "paying social insurance for full-time and stable part-time riders," the platform is responsible for the employer's contribution, and the riders are also part of the employee social insurance system. The Blue Knight social insurance pilot mentioned by Ele.me refers to the occupational injury protection pilot for new employment forms promoted by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, which is not part of the employee social insurance system.

Professor Lou Yu from the Civil, Commercial, and Economic Law School at China University of Political Science and Law told First Financial that the prerequisite for workers to participate in urban employee pension insurance is the recognition of a labor relationship. This relationship requires workers to fulfill corresponding obligations, such as working hours, workload, labor discipline, and regulations as required by the employer. For delivery riders, if they are willing to accept orders in a long-term and stable manner and accept the management standards of platform companies similar to traditional labor relationship management, they can participate in social insurance, and the platform should bear the responsibility of payment. If riders prefer to flexibly and freely decide their working hours and workload, they may choose not to establish a labor relationship.

"Whether it's Meituan offering social insurance to long-term stable delivery riders, or riders who decide their own working hours and workload choosing not to join social insurance, or like JD.com, which requires establishing labor relations with each worker and managing them according to traditional labor relations where workers cannot decide their own working hours and workload, all these methods are compliant under the existing legal system and are the result of voluntary choices by platform companies and workers. As for which method provides better protection for workers, it depends on the actual situation of the workers and cannot be generalized," said Lou Yu.

In the year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, along with seven other departments, jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Protecting the Labor Rights and Interests of Workers in New Forms of Employment." Workers in new business models are categorized into three types: those who meet the conditions for establishing labor relations, those who partially meet the conditions for establishing labor relations, and those who do not meet the conditions for labor relations (civil legal relations).

Lou Yu stated that platform employment includes scenarios that meet the criteria for establishing labor relations, as well as those that do not fully meet such criteria. Riders who are managed by platform algorithms but also have the autonomy to decide their workload fall into the latter category. The social security responsibilities borne by the platform vary for riders engaged in different types of work.

"Voluntary" or "Mandatory"?

Meituan will gradually provide social insurance for its full-time and stable part-time delivery riders, with the plan estimated to eventually benefit over a million riders. According to Meituan Research Institute, the total number of riders who earned income from orders on the platform reached [X] million in [year], with approximately [Y] million being "stable riders who accepted orders for more than [Z] days throughout the year." The first step for these [Y] million riders to join urban employee social insurance is to confirm labor relations and sign labor contracts. (Note: [X], [year], [Y], and [Z] are placeholders for specific numbers and the year mentioned in the original text, which were not provided. Please fill in the actual data for a complete translation.)

Zhang Chenggang, director of China's New Employment Forms Research Center, stated that the law clearly stipulates that once an employment relationship is confirmed, workers no longer have the option of "voluntary participation in insurance." For workers in new employment forms who meet the criteria for an employment relationship and have signed labor contracts, employers are legally obligated to pay social insurance contributions in accordance with both the Social Insurance Law and the Labor Contract Law. This includes enrolling them in the basic pension insurance for employees, basic medical insurance for employees (including maternity insurance), work-related injury insurance, and unemployment insurance.

Zhang Chenggang stated that currently, various platforms have not yet introduced specific implementation rules. Whether riders who meet the social security threshold but are unwilling to pay social security still have the option to choose, and how they decide to stay or leave, are issues that need to be further clarified during implementation. At the same time, effective methods should be used to guide them to pay social security.

Research on Wage Security for Workers in New Employment Forms by Zhang Chenggang et al. — A Case Study of Food Delivery Riders

Zhang Chenggang's research found that for delivery riders, the "need for social security contributions" ranks after "income" and "job autonomy." Whether in academic research or previous discussions between NPC deputies and riders, some riders have explicitly stated their unwillingness to join the social security system. The reason is that workers value income the most. Once they join the social security system, the labor costs for enterprises increase, and workers worry that "the wool comes from the sheep's back," meaning that enterprises might reduce their income levels. Additionally, the personal contribution part would also decrease their current income.

In other words, the reason riders choose not to join social security is not because they do not need protection, but rather because, given their limited income, they find the high proportion of social security contributions difficult to afford, or social security is not their priority.

Li Gan stated that for many years, employment relationships in new business formats have exhibited a "choice model," meaning that industries involved in new business formats offer both labor and non-labor employment opportunities, allowing workers to choose. It is unrealistic to try to bring new business format employment into labor relations by mandating social insurance participation. "On one hand, it remains to be seen whether all delivery riders are willing to give up the flexibility and autonomy of their jobs to accept the centralized subordinate management of labor relations. On the other hand, it is also uncertain whether all riders, especially more mobile migrant workers, are willing to participate in local pooling of urban employee social insurance at relatively high contribution rates," Li Gan said.

Lou Yu also stated that from the perspective of the diversity of platform employment, both full-time and part-time jobs are important employment methods for food delivery platforms. If the platform requires all workers to become full-time employees and then mandates that they join social insurance, this undermines the original intention of flexible employment workers and is not conducive to establishing a diversified employment model that aligns with the employment intentions of workers.

What are the riders worried about?

Associate Professor Zhao Qing from the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Wuhan University conducted field surveys of numerous delivery riders and couriers across the country. The results show that individual characteristics such as age, education level, willingness to settle, child-rearing, health status, work experience, job stability, and income, as well as institutional characteristics such as the presence of labor contracts and household registration status, have a significant impact on the participation in basic pension insurance or basic medical insurance by workers in new business formats.

At the same time, as they age, the likelihood of new business practitioners participating in either employee pension insurance or employee medical insurance is increasing. After a certain age, many new business practitioners without labor contracts will join the employee insurance system as flexible workers about a year before retirement to meet the minimum contribution period requirements.

Zhao Qing stated that, in reality, the majority of workers in new business forms do not participate in employment-related employee insurance. "The premiums are too high and unaffordable" was the most common response in the questionnaire survey.

Zhang Chenggang mentioned that, apart from concerns about declining income, food delivery riders also worry about being unable to continue paying social security contributions if they switch industries in the future, making it difficult to meet the minimum contribution period requirements. This would render their payments ineffective for retirement purposes. There is a contradiction between the short working lifespan of food delivery riders and the long contribution periods required by the social security system. Taking pension insurance as an example, currently, one must contribute for a full number of years to qualify for a pension. With the delayed retirement policy, the minimum contribution period will gradually increase to a certain number of years. If food delivery riders fail to meet the minimum contribution period, they can only withdraw the portion they contributed to their personal accounts upon retirement and will not receive a pension.

"Riders who change careers generally move to other flexible employment positions, and now all flexible employment is facing the same social security dilemma. Therefore, relying solely on the individual advancement of the food delivery industry cannot fundamentally solve the social security issues of this group," said Zhang Chenggang.

How to "address the shortcomings" in the social security system?

Lu Jinfei, Vice Dean of the School of Public Administration at East China Normal University, told First Financial that the common characteristic of workers in new business formats such as food delivery riders and couriers is that their form of labor has fundamentally changed from traditional labor relations. Social security policies and labor laws and regulations need to be adjusted and revised, and a more flexible and adaptive institutional system should be established to meet the complex requirements of reality.

China's social security system is transitioning from broad coverage to comprehensive coverage. In the construction of a high-quality social security system, a portion of migrant workers, flexible employees, and workers in new business formats face difficulties in directly participating in the traditional employer-based social insurance system due to unclear labor relations, flexible working methods, and unstable income. The issues of underinsurance, dropout, and discontinuation of insurance are particularly prominent among this group, representing a "shortcoming" in China's social security system.

Currently, there are hundreds of millions of flexible workers in China, with the total number of employees in new business formats reaching tens of millions. Most of them are not entirely without social security, but they participate in resident social security programs that offer relatively low levels of protection, which do not match their income levels or the nature of their work. Especially in terms of pension insurance, the meager few hundred yuan in pension benefits is insufficient to support their livelihood in old age. Given that pension accumulation relies on time, it is crucial to establish institutional arrangements for this group as soon as possible, enabling them to start saving during their younger, higher-earning years to ensure adequate pension support in their later years.

How to determine the contribution base is