The latest report was released: last year, the average monthly income of the sister-in-law was 8,824 yuan, and the delivery staff ranked among the top three blue-collar earners
On January 23, the Research Center of Capital University of Economics and Business released the "2023 China Blue-Collar Group Employment Research Report", which provides insight into the current situation and trends of blue-collar groups in job search and employment through blue-collar group research and recruitment data analysis.
The report shows that the average monthly income of blue-collar groups in 2023 will be 6,043 yuan, which is basically the same as last year, among which the monthly income of confinement sisters, truck drivers and delivery workers is relatively high, with 8,824 yuan, 7,641 yuan and 6,803 yuan respectively, ranking among the top three blue-collar groups. From the perspective of subdivided industries, with the continuous adjustment of the industrial structure, the blue-collar wage level of the tertiary industry is gradually rising, and in the secondary industry, the income of traditional blue-collar groups such as construction gig workers and general workers is at a medium level. In addition, cleaners, security guards and waiters, who also belong to the service industry, have lower incomes among the blue-collar group.
Photo by reporter Zhang Jian
The average monthly salary of blue-collar workers is gradually approaching that of white-collar workers
According to the official account of the China New Employment Research Center, the blue-collar group includes not only workers employed in manufacturing, construction, traditional service industries and other industries, but also workers in new employment forms derived from Internet platforms in the context of the digital economy. According to the report, the average monthly income of blue-collar groups in 2023 will be 6,043 yuan, basically the same as last year. Among them, confinement wives, truck drivers and delivery workers have a higher monthly income, ranking among the top three blue-collar groups, while traditional blue-collar workers such as cleaners and security guards, who also belong to the service industry, have relatively low incomes.
Although there are regional differences in occupational income due to different levels of urban development, the new employment form has increased the income level of blue-collar groups to a certain extent, for example, the income of food delivery workers is still highly competitive in third- and fourth-tier cities. In addition, with the continuous adjustment of the industrial structure, the blue-collar wage level of the tertiary industry is gradually rising. In the secondary industry, traditional blue-collar groups such as construction gig workers and general workers have a medium income.
In the past decade, the average monthly income of blue-collar workers has increased significantly, from 2,684 yuan in 2012 to 6,043 yuan in 2023, which is 2.26 times that of the original, and the gap between the two has gradually narrowed compared with the average monthly salary of white-collar workers.
At present, the mainland has entered a critical transition period of demographic dividend, all walks of life in the trend of industrial upgrading and intelligent manufacturing, the demand for labor continues to increase, in the past, people engaged in blue-collar jobs are often out of passivity, helplessness, more yearning for white-collar occupations of high salary and decency. However, in recent years, with the change of people's concept of career choice and the improvement of the salary competitiveness of blue-collar occupations, more and more job seekers have begun to choose to join the blue-collar industry according to their own conditions and interests, especially the new blue-collar workers represented by food delivery workers and couriers, so as to achieve sustainable and stable personal development in blue-collar work.
Taking food delivery workers as an example, with the in-depth expansion of the catering and food delivery market to third- and fourth-tier cities, the growth of local food delivery business has been driven, creating favorable conditions for food delivery workers to find employment in the local area and providing more employment opportunities. According to the report, 73% of food delivery workers are employed in the province, second only to waiters. The inter-provincial mobility of general factory workers, confinement workers, cleaning and construction gig workers is relatively common, which is related to the fact that the demand for manufacturing labor and urban services are mostly concentrated in first- and second-tier cities.
The work intensity of food delivery workers and online car-hailing drivers is characterized by short-term and high-pressure work, and the time outside the peak period of orders can be flexibly arranged. Therefore, freedom has also become the key word of employment for workers in the new form of employment, and nearly 7 percent of the food delivery workers recognize the attribute of more work and more reward. In addition, positive results have been achieved in protecting the rights and interests of workers in new forms of employment. As of September 2023, 6.68 million new employment workers have been included in the scope of occupational injury protection, and a total of 490 million yuan has been paid for occupational injury protection. Occupational injury insurance has the inclusive characteristics of social insurance, and is expected to cover more industry enterprises and blue-collar occupations in the future, such as truck drivers, online anchors, online housekeeping, platform gig workers, etc.
"The bricklayer who received 40,000 yuan in half a month" sparked heated discussions
Expert: College students should dilute their academic qualifications and strengthen their skills
According to Red Star News, a few days ago, a video of a post-90s masons earning 40,000 yuan a month and a half of a family sparked heated discussions among netizens. According to the poster news report, in Jinan, Shandong, Xie Ensong, who was born in 1997, has been working as a mason for 9 years, and in the second year of being a bricklayer, he bought a car worth more than 100,000 yuan, and bought a 120-square-meter off-plan house with a mortgage in the seventh year; with a single 160-square-meter new house as an example, the construction period is 15 days, and the family of three can get about 40,000 yuan.
Regarding the discussion caused by "a family of three masons earning 40,000 yuan in half a month", Mr. Han, the person in charge of a decoration engineering company in Shenzhen, said that "a 160-square-meter house, contracted labor and materials, 40,000 yuan a half month" is a normal phenomenon. But masonry does not guarantee continuity of work – typically, you can do it for nine months a year if the market is good, and only five or six months if it is bad. Mr. Tao, a tiling worker, said, "Because you have to squat on the floor tiles, sometimes you need to squat for a day, and you can't stand it when you are old." ”
Ms. Lu, the person in charge of a decoration company in Guangzhou, said that in the decoration industry, if it is a husband and wife, there is no problem with an annual income of 200,000 yuan. "And there is no time limit for tooling, you can work 8 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours, so it is possible for three people to earn 20,000 or 30,000 yuan a month. ”
It is worth noting that in addition to "masons with a half-monthly income of 40,000 yuan", there are also news such as "a delivery man who earns 1.02 million yuan in 3 years" and "a courier brother who earns 1.08 million yuan in 3 years" recently. According to the Workers' Daily, Xiong Bingqi, president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, predicts that with the change in the birth population, after ten years, the salary of skilled talents will be higher than that of academic talents. Moreover, the status and treatment of skilled jobs are gradually improving, "but some prejudices and stereotypes that divide jobs into three, six, nine and so on, will take time to reverse." ”
He said that the reality is changing, and so do the perceptions. "Nowadays, we advocate the dilution of academic qualifications and the promotion of skills. The country needs skilled talents, and some skilled jobs are in short supply, and if young people want to do high-level jobs, it will cause structural difficulties in employment. College students should learn to downplay their academic qualifications and strengthen their skills. ”
Editor|Wang Yuelong, Du Hengfeng, Du Bo
Proofreading|Cheng Peng
The daily economic news is synthesized from the China New Employment Form Research Center, Red Star News, and Workers' Daily
National Business Daily