A Study On The Causes Of Vulnerability Of Informal Employment In The COVID-19 Pandemic

Informal employment refers to employees who are engaged in "temporary,auxiliary and do not enjoy corresponding benefits." In the COVID-19 epidemic,the informal employment groups are faced with the double vulnerability of life safety and livelihood maintenance.On the one hand,during the epidemic rebound period,informal employment,such as network car drivers and outsourced cleaning staff,were repeatedly infected with the epidemic;On the other hand,the impact of the epidemic on the economy has led to a large number of informal employment facing unemployment and marginalization of welfare benefits.This paper points out that the vulnerabilities of the above-mentioned informal employment is the result of the commercialization of labor force,and "mobility" and "precarity" are the important variables for the commercialization of labor force.From the perspective of mobility,mobility as work and mobility for work have become the livelihood source of a large number of informal employment.In the COVID-19 epidemic,mobility changed from capital to a burden.This brings an opportunity for a large number of digital economic platforms,such as express delivery and take-out,to sell the " substitution mobility " of informal employment groups to earn profits,which leads to the trap of "super mobility" of informal employment in the process of "forced mobility".From the point of view of precarity,the sudden outbreak of epidemic situation highlights the inherent defects of informal employment,such as no welfare and little security,which leads the informal employment groups to fall into the " hyper precarity ",and it is difficult for them to cope with the risks and crises in epidemic situation.According to Polanyi’s "double movement" theory,relying on the spontaneous operation of market economy is a complete utopia.The market is out of the society,and turning labor,money and land into virtual goods will inevitably bring great disasters to man and nature.Based on this,it is necessary for the state and society to maintain the normal order of "social market" by triggering the social protection movement.Based on Polanyi’s theory,this paper puts forward that the vulnerabilities of informal employment groups is the result of the commercialization of labor force.Enterprises and digital economy platform regard "profit-seeking" as the primary goal,and increase profits and reduce costs by means of algorithm manipulation to accelerate mobility and compress the welfare of informal employees.That is to say,the state and society should help the informal employment groups by means of legislation and social policies,so as to realize the vision of "de-commercialization of labor force".On this basis,this paper puts forward three countermeasures: protecting the labor rights and interests of informal employees by legislative means,introducing social forces to build a cooperative governance system for the protection of informal employees,and realizing the common development of the market and informal employees.This paper holds that the protection of informal employment groups in epidemic situation can improve the recovery resilience of the whole society to fight epidemic situation,and then lay a good foundation for correcting market failure and forming the resilience of "social market".