New jobs created by new technologies boom in Jiangsu

2020-06-23 16:04:00

New forms of employment driven by new technologies and business models are booming in Jiangsu, an economic powerhouse in East China, as the COVDI-19 response has become a new normal in daily life.

Wang Zaisheng, born in 1995, registered his own company in Jurong in April and provides services to online stores, such as taking photos and offering technical support. With five years of working experience in e-commerce, Wang said more shops are opening online amid the pandemic and live streaming is increasingly chosen as a marketing method so his company has seen more customers and rapid growth.

Sun Yunlong, 25, is specialized in takeaway food planning for new online stores, such as creating an effective menu, store decoration and training. During the Spring Festival holiday, he helped a restaurant get through a crisis with a featured takeaway hot pot service. His service is now getting more popular because many restaurants are looking for competitive solutions to online operation.

A staff at a grape farm in Yangzhou uses livestream to promote sales. [Photo/CFP]

Professor Fang Changchun of Nanjing University, also director of the university’s Center for Employment Quality Research, said that the new employment pattern mainly refers to providing goods or services through the Internet and generally falls into the category of self-employed. People, especially the younger labors, work in a more individualized and decentralized manner, with flexible workplace, hours and methods.

The 2019- 2020 WeChat Employment Impact Report, released in May, showed the multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app has given rise to new jobs and new business models, creating a large flexible workforce ready to apply their skills for copywriting, accounting, design and other roles.

During the Two Sessions, annual meetings of China's top legislature and its top political advisory body, Dai Yuanhu, director of the Jiangsu Department of Human Resources and Social Security, said the new employment patterns contributed to about 10 percent of the jobs in the province. The department plans to research the new employment changes and development trend in order to ensure protection of the rights of workers.