Can a voluntarist approach to social security extend protection to gig workers? Evidence from the platform-based food-delivery sector in China

Gig workers are in a precarious position in the absence of employer-sponsored social insurance programs in countries that adopt the Bismarck model of social security. China, among others, has attempted to address this challenge by including gig and other self-employed workers on a voluntary, self-sponsorship basis. Drawing on data collected from platform-based food-delivery workers complemented by self-compiled data on local labour policies across Chinese cities, this study evaluated the effects of voluntarism in extending social protection to gig workers on their social insurance enrollment. Specifically, we compared the social insurance enrollment of workers granted employee status by the platform or its subcontractors—thus covered by the mandatory, employer-sponsored social insurances—over crowdsourcing/gig workers on the same platform that may self-enroll in the system. We found that voluntary enrollment has achieved a generally lower social insurance coverage than the mandatory approach. But the primary contribution of this research lies in the institutional contingencies for this finding contextualized in areas with deregulated labour markets and discrimination against migrant workers. Specifically, we found that while improved labour market regulations play a protective role for mandatory social insurance enrollment only, gaining local citizenship may to some extent offset those disadvantages associated with the voluntary approach.