China’s ‘New Economy’ bolsters employment market

Areport published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows that China’s “new economy” has become the driving force to promote the rapid growth of employment, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.

“New economy” refers to high technology industries as well as intellectual property-intensive sectors in the report.

From 2007 to 2016, China’s new economy has grown at an average annual rate of 16.1 percent, 1.9 times the growth of the national economy over the same period.

Meanwhile, “new employment” has grown at an average annual rate of 7.2 percent, which is 22 times the national employment growth rate. Such employment has accounted for 6.4 percent of total employment in 2016.

According to the report, the employment pattern brought by the new economy is quite different from traditional employment. For example, in the platform and sharing economy, some people will open an online store and also work as an Uber driver.

However, this type of work exists in the form of part-time jobs, without a contractual relationship between employer and employee. This may requite a new design of the social securities system, the report said.

(ASIA TIMES)