Growing up in a small village in Yongjia County, Zhejiang Province, Li Feng has worked his way up from truck driver to purchasing manager at a large hi-tech enterprise in Shanghai. He has now been living and working in the metropolis near his hometown for two and a half decades.

Li is keenly aware of the conditions ordinary employees face. In 2018, he was elected as a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) because he won the heart of those around him due to his outstanding work performance and willingness to help others.

As a role model representing the rural workers employed in cities, he continued to listen to people's voices during everyday work and field investigations, and tried to make them heard.

"Despite challenges posed by COVID-19 resurgences, government and company efforts should continue to ensure that the primary-level staff can lead a good life, and their rights and interests are safeguarded," Li told Beijing Review.

Ensuring employment

Employment not only concerns people's livelihoods, but also the development of the country, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said at a press conference following the closing of the Fifth Session of the 13th NPC in Beijing on March 11.

"Only when there is employment, is there income and something to look forward to in life; and it creates wealth for society," the premier told journalists from home and abroad via video link.

Over 10 million college students are due to graduate this year. The government work report this year states that the country will give graduates stronger guidance and policy support and uninterrupted services to guarantee they can find jobs or start businesses.

Work will also be done to help ex-service members get resettled and reemployed, broaden employment channels for rural migrant workers, and assist people with disabilities and members of zero-employment families in securing jobs.

The key is to energize 100 million market entities, the source of employment. Measures such as tax and fee reductions, as well as subsidies for businesses in difficulty, will continue to be implemented.

During this year's NPC session, Li Feng suggested that flexible employment should be further standardized as an important way to boost employment and increase labor income, as well as to broaden new work channels and nurture new drivers of progress. Generally speaking, this includes individual businesses, part-time jobs, and new occupational forms.

Li Feng said relevant policies should be upgraded in pace with the fast development of flex working, and labor unions should play a bigger role in protecting flexible worker rights and settling their disputes with employers or other relevant parties.

Currently, about 200 million Chinese people opt for non-traditional forms of employment.

As a developing country, this form of employment will exist for a long time to come, Li Keqiang said. "They come through wind and rain, and work really hard," he said, taking takeout delivery people as an example and adding that "we must gradually improve policies for their labor rights and social security."

A sense of security

With new spikes in COVID-19 infections in several regions due to the Omicron BA.2 variant, local authorities are taking measures to certify laborers are less affected while bringing these local infection clusters under control. For example, those requiring treatment or quarantine in Shenzhen will still receive their pay and other usual benefits during their time away from work.

"Many companies in Shanghai have also adopted a no-layoff policy and ensured their staff gets paid, no matter whether they are working from home or in quarantine," Li Feng said.

Documents issued by the governments of Shanxi Province and other places have announced that the household registration restrictions for flexible employment personnel to participate in basic pension and basic medical insurance in their places of employment will be completely removed.

Previously, in some regions, the household registration status was mandatory for people to claim social security payments. For example, even if people from rural areas moved to urban areas for work, their social security would still be administered through their rural hometowns. This system often led workers who were earning higher urban wages to still receive lower pensions based on the rural pension system.

Similar to Shanxi, Shanghai is also exploring possibilities for the gradual easing of restrictions for people with household registrations in other places but flexibly employed in Shanghai, so that they can be covered by the metropolis' basic pension and medical insurance, according to a document released by its authorities.

However, in practice, the payment of social security contributions in various regions relates to people's qualifications for welfare benefits in that region, such as house purchase and vehicle license applications, said Lou Yu, a professor of law at China University of Political Science and Law's School of Civil and Commercial Economics. He added that the supply of welfare benefits in superlarge cities falls short of demand, thus allowing migrant workers to participate in these social security systems might not be easy to accomplish.

"It should be [rolled out] in slow and steady manner," Zhang Chenggang, a professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business, told Beijing Review. "The city management department should make decisions based on local conditions."

Li Feng said in addition to efforts made by government departments and enterprises, employees should work together to tide over the difficult times caused by COVID-19. "We must face the music together with joint and step-by-step efforts," he said.

Li Feng believes that employees in all industries should continue to receive training to increase their market competitiveness. Graduating with a junior college diploma in 1999, he was not content with the status quo and continued to seek ways to improve himself by joining training sessions hosted by industry organizations, companies, the labor union and the government. He also pursued further studies and received a bachelor's degree in business management.

"Many of the trainings are offered for free or at a discount due to preferential policies of the labor unions or government departments at various levels. I did gain a lot from them, and I hope more staff can benefit; upgrading their skills and eventually improving the entire labor market," Li Feng said.

(Print Editon Title: A Joint Response to Challenge)

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

Comments to luyan@cicgamericas.com