Zhang Guanzi Committee Member: Suggests Formulating Platform Worker Social Insurance Participation Regulations at an Opportune Time

In the 2026 government work report, it was proposed to introduce policies supporting flexible employment personnel and new employment forms to participate in employee insurance. This work is already urgent.

During this year’s National Two Sessions, Zhang Guanzi, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and director of the Chinese Modernization Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, stated in an interview with The Paper that he recommends timely introduction of regulations for social insurance participation for platform workers to promote their participation in urban employee social insurance.

Zhang Guanzi, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and director of the Chinese Modernization Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Photo provided by the interviewee.

Platform employment refers to employment that involves obtaining work opportunities through internet platforms, completing tasks, and earning income. It includes ride-hail drivers, food delivery riders, online streamers, freelancers, and other workers.

“With the rapid development of the digital economy, new employment forms dominated by platform employment have become one of the main channels for new jobs,” said Zhang Guanzi. “Chinese modernization aims for common prosperity for all people. As a typical group of new employment forms, platform workers’ social security rights and interests should be addressed as soon as possible.”

During research, Zhang Guanzi found that platform employment has characteristics such as flexible working hours, dispersed work locations, and difficulty in defining labor relations. The main issue reflected in social insurance is insufficient participation. Most platform workers participate in urban and rural residents’ pension and medical insurance. In cities, they can join employee social insurance based on personal identity, but the participation rate is low.

Zhang Guanzi noted that in recent years, the country has attached great importance to the social insurance participation of platform workers. In 2021, eight departments issued the “Guiding Opinions on Protecting the Rights and Interests of Workers in New Employment Forms,” which states, “Enterprises should guide and support new employment form workers who do not fully meet the established labor relationship conditions to participate in relevant social insurance according to their own circumstances.” The draft of the 14th Five-Year Plan also proposed strengthening employment services and protection of workers’ rights and interests. In recent years, some platform companies have begun pilot programs to pay social insurance for riders, accumulating some experience.

Against this background, Zhang Guanzi suggests timely introduction of regulations for social insurance participation for platform workers. “Regulatory authorities can first study and formulate pilot management measures for platform workers’ participation in employee social insurance, specifying issues such as which personnel, insurance types, participation methods, platform responsibilities, and operational procedures. It is recommended to announce these regulations to the public through government regulations and implement them nationwide,” said Zhang Guanzi.

For specific implementation, Zhang Guanzi recommends a gradual, categorized approach to expand policy coverage. For example, initially expanding the pilot of ‘new occupational injury insurance’ to cover all provinces and broadening the scope of platform industry participation. The initial focus should be on employee pension insurance, with gradual expansion to include employee medical (maternity) insurance and unemployment insurance as conditions permit. Regarding participation methods, mandatory or semi-mandatory requirements could be proposed for platform companies.

Zhang Guanzi said that for full-time riders, labor relations should be standardized, and they should participate in the “five insurances and one fund” as required; for long-term stable part-time riders, income or working hours conditions could be set, implementing an automatic enrollment mechanism, where participation is defaulted to personal identity with the platform providing a certain subsidy for contributions if the worker does not oppose; for sporadic part-time and low-income riders, participation in social insurance should be encouraged but not mandated.

Additionally, Zhang Guanzi recommends corresponding reforms in labor law and platform industry regulation, as well as improving the social insurance system to effectively reduce workers’ participation burden, introducing flexible payment mechanisms, and enhancing digital social insurance platforms to better accommodate flexible employment.