Young recruits drawn to the gig economy

Lower costs

Gig employment's continued momentum is not solely the result of changing philosophies among job seekers, but also employers, who feel that such jobs make the employment process easier and reduce costs, especially in industries with seasonal demands, such as travel and logistics.

A human resources manager at luxury brand Louis Vuitton, who only wanted to be identified as Cao, said nearly 80 percent of the workers at the company's cosmetics and clothing warehouses in China are part-time employees.

During the annual June 18 and Nov 11 shopping festivals, the company needs some 2,000 part-time workers for several weeks to handle surging orders, Cao said.

At some food factories, gig workers now comprise a rising proportion of the workforce as employers seek to better control costs.

Feng Xiaoxia, a human resources manager at Shanghai Shaowansheng Food Plant in the city's Pudong district, which mainly produces handmade steamed bread, said 40 percent of the employees at the plant are gig workers who are mainly used in noncore positions, such as packaging.

Compared with traditional part-time jobs, which usually last three or four months, a gig job may only require a worker for one or two days, she said.

"The company now sells online and offline, so if a large order is received online, workers may be needed temporarily. But as our orders are not stable, we cannot afford to employ a large team of full-time workers," Feng said, adding that the preference for gig workers began last year due to the lasting effects of the pandemic.

The authorities in Shanghai's Huangpu district have launched an online gig market platform, providing opportunities in the internet, new energy, and artificial intelligence industries, among other new economies.

Since the platform launched in June, it has handled more than 2.45 million chats between job seekers and enterprises.

Zhou Lei, director of Huangpu District Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, said gig jobs are aimed more toward younger people, especially college graduates.

Xuan Chen, deputy director of Huangpu District Employment Promotion Center, said, "Some new economies and formats, such as livestream marketing, online design and development, and cloud customer services, do not require employees to stay in a fixed office space, as flexible working systems can be a better fit."

For some young people, especially college graduates, gig employment offers them a "buffer" in the job market.

Jing Xiaofeng, director of Shanghai Polytechnic University's admissions and employment office, said one difficulty for some college students in recent years is that they lack corporate internship experience due to the pandemic, and feel confused about their career development.

Gig jobs, to some extent, give them the opportunity to initially enter the workplace, experience a corporate atmosphere, and find a direction for their future careers, he said.