Rights Basis and System Building of Occupational Injury Protection for Employers in New Business Forms

Employees in new business forms face higher occupational injury risks and the plight of“falling in the gap in the protection network”of work-related injury insurance.The existing three types of occupational injury protection models are based on the reflection and reform of traditional occupational injury insurance.The readjustment path of occupational injury insurance is the most desirable among them.Occupational injury protection for employees in new forms of business is based on the concept of human rights protection,with the right to equality,social insurance and occupational safety and health as the direct basis.The top-level design of the system should be based on the appropriate“decoupling”of work-related injury insurance and labor relations,and rely on the technological empowerment of the digital age to explore the establishment of a work-related injury insurance system that is both mandatory and flexible.For the specific system building,in the dimension of mandate,the commercialization of benefits payment should be realized while expanding the statutory coverage of work-related injury insurance;while in the dimension of flexibility,it should be based on the characteristics of employees.Corresponding rules and regulations should be adjusted in terms of management model,work-related injury identification,and treatment calculation and payment.

Gender Pay Gap in the Gig Economy

The rapid ascent of digital platforms and the gig economy has prompted concerns about the gender pay gap.The results show that in the 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 traditional waged employment during the same period,the gender pay gap in the gig economy has narrowed.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 pay gaps arise from factors within occupations,and occupational segregation only has a very limited impact on the earnings gap.Additionally,the gender pay gap among platform gig workers can be mostly explained by observable factors,which 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 pay 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 environmentsall of which serve to widen the gender pay gap that might have otherwise narrowed.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。

THE LEGAL PROTECTION FOR CHINA'S FLEXIBLE WORKERS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a chain of socioeconomic effects worldwide.China’s social and economic operations and labor market have also been suffered because of this global crisis.During hard times,flexible employment becomes an important means for stabilizing employment.However,the pandemic also exposed the problems ensuing from insufficient legal protection for flexible workers.First,there are some gaps and defects in the labor and social security laws in terms of their scope and applicability to flexible workers.Second,there were limitations in the support and protection policies for flexible workers at the early stages of the pandemic.Although the government implemented measures soon after the outbreak of COVID-19,their role is still constrained by the legal lacunae in protecting flexible workers.As flexible employment will continue to play a significant role in China’s labor market,the State Council issued a far-reaching official document in July 28,2020 to support it.This document indicates the directions for providing better legal protection for flexible workers,which contains expanding the legal scope and enriching the legal protection.Based on the realities and latest policies,the legal protection for flexible workers should be systemically improved in the future.