South China Morning Post (09.10.2026) China has issued a draft of its first formal regulation to extend labour-law protections to the country’s rapidly growing ranks of gig and platform workers, a major segment of an expanding flexible workforce within the country’s tough job market. Platform workers, such as ride-hailing drivers and those engaged in food deliveries – a group totalling 84 million who often face irregular pay and intense workloads – will be entitled to basic labour protections covering pay, rest periods, workplace safety and more, according to the draft published on Thursday for public comment. However, it only sets minimum standards for working conditions, falling far short of the protections currently afforded to workers in formal employment, according to the document from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.