China's flexible workers have reached 200 million people Online jobs are sought after by young people

Video producers, webcasters, copywriters... The platform economy and the sharing economy have flourished, giving birth to a wealth of employment methods, and flexible employment has also become a new choice for young people today. The relevant person in charge of the National Bureau of Statistics recently said that by the end of 2021, China's flexible employment personnel have reached 200 million, of which more than 1.6 million are engaged in anchors and related practitioners, an increase of nearly 3 times over 2020.

The blogger recorded a video at the Genting Ski Resort in Chongli, Hebei Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Zhuang

Job seekers have a wider choice

"In retrospect, my career started with flexible employment." Liu Hao, who has graduated for 5 years, is a video special effects producer, and her team is well-known in the industry. At the beginning of graduation, Liu Hao chose to enter the society as the video "UP master" (uploader), and the various special effects videos she produced were deeply loved by netizens, and the number of broadcasts increased steadily, and finally got the "stepping stone" to enter the professional team.

The number of flexible employment in China has increased significantly, and the group of university graduates who are active in thinking and good at innovation have become the main force of flexible employment. According to the statistics of the National Center for Student Information Consultation and Career Guidance in Colleges and Universities, the flexible employment rate of college graduates in 2020 and 2021 will exceed 16%.

"Choosing flexible employment is not the same as not being able to find a job, nor is it just 'casually', but a new employment model." Liu Hao believes that flexible employment gives job seekers the opportunity to choose "solo flight", can give full play to their personal advantages and interests, create high-quality works and achievements, build a stage for themselves to show their abilities, and explore the direction of career development while increasing professional skills.

Flexible employment not only becomes an employment path for graduates, but also provides convenience for enterprises to select and employ people. According to the Blue Book of the "China Flexible Employment Development Report (2022)" released by the Flexible Employment Research Group of Chinese Min University, 61.14% of Enterprises in China use Flexible Employment in 2021, an increase of 5.46% over 2020, and enterprises tend to expand the scale of flexible employment.

Compared with the traditional long-term employment model, the advantage of flexible employment lies in the relatively relaxed access and exit mechanism. For job seekers, the threshold for flexible employment to obtain job opportunities is lower, and they can leave at any time if they are not suitable; for enterprises, they are also more flexible in terms of selection and employment of people, how to use them, and how long. Therefore, whether it is a job seeker or a business, flexible employment provides them with more room to try and choose opportunities.

There are many ways for "multi-faceted" talents to do their side business

"Humans currently know very little about volcanoes, and although we understand the principles of volcanic eruptions, it is almost impossible to accurately predict them, which is why continuous research needs to be promoted." On January 14, the news of the volcanic eruption in Tonga received widespread attention on the Internet. On a short video platform, a popular science video produced by anchor Li Dongqi answered the questions that netizens cared about, and the number of plays exceeded 20,000 times.

"Doing short videos can only be regarded as a side hustle, and my job is to be a geological researcher." Li Dongqi told reporters that geological research needs to often go to all parts of the country to conduct field surveys, he will use the mechanism to make videos to show the daily work, did not expect to gain a group of loyal fans, but also obtained considerable additional income. "Later, I began to make simple popular science videos, and at the same time published the relevant professional content in the form of articles on the knowledge platform, providing a window for netizens, especially the student group, to understand the knowledge of geology, and the amount of playback and reading was not bad."

With the advent of the intelligent era, flexible employment has also provided a new way for "multi-faceted" talents such as Li Dongqi to innovate and create value. At present, more and more people have a multi-faceted knowledge and ability reserve, which can meet the needs of different enterprises at the same time. Some people also rely on their skills to innovate in the new economic field, creating a series of valuable works and products, bringing themselves a broader space for development. The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Digital Economy" recently issued by the State Council clearly proposes to encourage individuals to use new platforms such as social software, knowledge sharing, audio and video websites to employ and start businesses, and promote flexible employment and sideline innovation.

"I hope to share the relevant knowledge and experience of geological research with everyone by making videos and writing articles, and I also hope to stimulate the interest of students in school, so that more people can join the scientific research team and explore the unknown together." Li Dongqi said.

Make flexible workers more motivated

In July 2021, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other 8 departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Safeguarding the Labor Security Rights and Interests of Workers in New Employment Forms", which makes clear requirements for safeguarding the labor remuneration, reasonable rest, social insurance, labor safety and other rights and interests of workers in new employment forms. The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Digital Economy" also proposes that the participation of flexible employment personnel in the social insurance system and the protection system for workers' rights and interests will be further improved, and the pilot participation of flexible employment personnel in the housing provident fund system will be promoted.

For university graduates who are about to face employment, the relevant person in charge of the Employment Promotion Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said that the social security subsidy policy will be used to support graduates in multi-channel flexible employment and new forms of employment. For graduates who are willing and capable of starting a business, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will give preferential support, accurately carry out entrepreneurial training and entrepreneurial services, and provide policies such as entrepreneurial guarantee loans, entrepreneurial subsidies, and site support.

In addition, some colleges and universities have launched a series of measures such as setting up innovation and entrepreneurship credits and relaxing students' study years, focusing on cultivating students' ability and awareness in innovation and entrepreneurship, and supporting students to choose flexible employment. Some colleges and universities have also set up plans and platforms such as "seed funds" and "student entrepreneurship parks" to provide financial support, venues and living security for students who choose flexible employment, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Experts said that under the continuous improvement of policy support and guarantee, various new employment models will absorb more labor employment, so that flexible workers are more motivated.