平台灵工经济中的性别收入差距研究

Gender Earnings Gap in the Gig Economy

数字平台和灵工经济兴起,引发了人们对新就业形态下性别收入差距的关注和忧虑。本文以独特的调查数据研究我国平台灵工经济中的性别收入差距状况。研究发现:在灵工经济中,性别仍是决定收入的重要因素,女性/男性月收入比为85%,较传统就业有所改善;即使控制个人特征、工作特征等可观察因素后,性别收入差距仍然存在;灵工经济中少部分职业(网约车服务、配送服务、在线教育)存在一定的职业分隔,但灵工女性不再集中于低收入工作,传统就业的“职业拥挤假说”不再成立;绝大部分性别收入差距来自职业内因素,职业分隔对收入差距影响非常有限;收入差距大部分来自可观察因素,不可观察因素对差距的贡献小于传统就业情形,意味着隐性的性别歧视减少;女性更厌恶算法控制、更偏好工作灵活性、工作更孤立而更少职业社交,是影响性别收入差距的新因素。总体而言,灵工经济中性别收入差距较传统工薪就业有所改善。

Over the past decade,the rapid ascent of digital platforms has profoundly transformed the nature of employment,giving rise to the gig economy,a novel form of work.This transformation has prompted concerns about increased precarious jobs,the absence of worker rights,and wage insecurity,including worries about the gender earnings gap.To what extent does the gig economy perpetuate or ameliorate the gender earnings gap observed in traditional waged employment? Does the gender earnings gap widen or narrow within this context? Does implicit discrimination attenuate or exacerbate the gender earnings gap? What factors contribute to the gender earnings gap in the gig economy,and how do they diverge from those in traditional waged employment? While these questions have garnered considerable attention in the research literature of developed,industrialized nations,research evidence from developing countries like China is conspicuously scarce.This paper employs a distinctive large-scale survey dataset of the platform labor force in China to investigate the gender earnings gap among Chinese platform workers.The study reveals that workers in China's platform-enabled gig economy earn incomes that fall in the middle ground between those of traditional waged employees,neither better nor worse.The findings demonstrate that the gender earnings gap can transfer from offline labor markets to online markets.In China's platform-enabled gig economy,gender continues to be a crucial determinant of workers' earnings,with women earning 85% of what men earn on a monthly basis.Nevertheless,in comparison to the gender earnings gap observed in traditional waged employment during the same period,where women earn only 77% of what men earn,the gender earnings gap in the gig economy has narrowed.Hence,it can be concluded that in China,the gig economy narrows the gender earnings gap and enhances the welfare of women.In certain emerging gig jobs in cloud work,such as live streaming and online consultation,women may even have the potential to overturn their earnings disadvantage.Further regression analysis and Appleton decomposition reveal that gender remains a significant determinant of individual earnings,even after controlling for observable factors such as personal characteristics and job attributes.Gender earnings gaps vary across different occupations.Notably,in platform-based entrepreneurship(e.g.,self-employment and microbusinesses) and geographically tethered work(e.g.,domestic services,ride-hailing,delivery services,and community group buying),women experience pronounced earnings disadvantages.However,in most cloud work occupations,women do not face significant earnings disadvantages and may even have a slight advantage(e.g.,live streaming).While some gig jobs(e.g.,ride-hailing services,delivery services,online education) exhibit certain occupational segregation,women in gig economy work are no longer concentrated in low-paying roles,thereby challenging the occupational crowding hypothesis prevalent in traditional employment.In the gig economy,the vast majority of the gender earnings gaps arise from factors within occupations,and occupational segregation only has a very limited impact on the earnings gap.This is easily understood,as changing jobs and occupations is quite straightforward in the gig economy.Additionally,it is found that the gender earnings gap among platform gig workers can be mostly explained by observable factors,with less than 40% of the earnings gap being attributed to unobservable factors.In contrast,in traditional waged employment,the portion of the gender earnings gap explained by unobservable factors typically exceeds 60%.This implies that compared to traditional employment,the gig economy exhibits a lower level of implicit gender discrimination in China.Finally,we investigate new factors that determine the gender earnings gap in the gig economy.Women exhibit a stronger aversion to algorithmic control,a preference for job flexibility,and a tendency toward more isolated and less socially interactive work environments—all of which serve to widen the gender earnings gap that might have otherwise narrowed.These conclusions are supported by empirical evidence.The results of this research suggest that despite the criticisms surrounding the gig economy,it continues to exert a positive influence on China's labor market.Supporting and regulating the development of the gig economy,a new form of employment,is a rational and pragmatic policy choice in the next stage of China's economic development.