As China’s economy continues to struggle, the number of ride-hailing drivers, food delivery couriers, and express package handlers has surged. In response, the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council have jointly published a directive titled “Opinions on Strengthening Service Management for New Employment Groups,” originally issued internally on October 29, 2025, and made public today.
The document, reported by state broadcaster CCTV, describes gig workers as an “important component of socialist laborers” and an indispensable force in economic and social development. It calls on these workers to “listen to the Party and follow the Party,” with the stated goal of continuously consolidating the CCP’s long-term ruling foundations across class, public, and social bases.
The directive sets out a clear timeline. By 2027, authorities aim to establish a fully coordinated management mechanism ensuring that Party organizations and Party activities comprehensively cover all “new employment groups,” while gradually standardizing labor practices, improving working conditions, and protecting workers’ legal rights. In the three to five years following 2027, the directive calls for further strengthening of ideological and political guidance, more harmonious labor relations, and greater recognition of gig work as a legitimate profession.
A significant focus of the document is ideological alignment. It requires that gig workers receive education in “ideal and conviction,” along with targeted outreach promoting Chinese-style modernization, socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the “Chinese Dream” of national rejuvenation. Workers are also to be guided toward identifying politically, intellectually, theoretically, and emotionally with the Party.
On the labor rights front, the directive instructs relevant companies to set reasonable wages, pay them in full and on time, protect workers’ rest entitlements, and strengthen protections during adverse weather and other special circumstances. News media and online platforms are to be used to foster a positive social atmosphere of respect and understanding toward gig workers.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), April 26, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202604260160.aspx