On May 20, the second lecture of “2021 Series of Lectures on Global Labor Market Flexibilization and Digital Economy Employment Regulation”, organized by the CULR and co-organized by the Labor Relations Branch of Chinese Association of Human Resource Development, was held online. Dr. Cao Xuebing, Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at Keele Business School in the UK, was invited as the main speaker to deliver a report titled “The Current Situation and Prospects of Platform Economy Development and Flexible Employment in the UK in the Post-Pandemic Period”. Fu Deyin, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of the CULR, and Feng Xiliang, President of the Labor Relations Branch of Chinese Association of Human Resource Development, attended the lecture, with over a hundred experts, scholars, and students from both inside and outside the CULR listening online.

During the lecture, Dr. Cao Xuebing elaborated on the changes in labor market demand in the post-pandemic period around the current situation of the pandemic and economic recovery in the UK. Taking perspectives such as age, education structure, job types, average hourly wage, and income structure of workers, he focused on interpreting the development trends of the gig economy, comparing and analyzing the differences between traditional workers, gig economy workers, and self-employed workers. He systematically expounded the basic theory of the gig economy from aspects such as algorithm management, labor process analysis, and remote collective labor disputes with rich cases. He stated that the development of remote work, e-commerce, and automation had given rise to a series of new work modes such as flexible employment, shared employment, and telecommuting, where flexible working hours, individual labor autonomy, and diverse forms of labor had led to new types of labor relations in the labor field. He believed that incorporating the new changes in labor relations into legal regulation and improving labor legislation was essential to better regulate new types of labor relations and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers. He also put forward some theoretical and practical thoughts on the role and significance of platform-spontaneous unions in adjusting labor relations.

In the discussion session, President Feng Xiliang made insightful comments on the development overview of the gig economy in the UK and changes in labor market demand. He shared his insights on the universality and sustainability of the trend of flexible employment development, the government's improvement of labor dispute resolution mechanisms, the legal and social responsibilities that platform enterprises should bear, and the management of flexible employment under standard labor relations, proposing new research topics for future studies on flexible employment. During the interactive session, the audience engaged in in-depth discussions with Dr. Cao Xuebing on topics such as labor relations and humanized management under algorithm management, the relationship between platforms, workers, and consumers, and the relationship between flexible employment and socialized employment.

At the meeting, Qiao Jian, Director of the International Office of Cooperation and Exchange of the CULR, expressed gratitude for Dr. Cao Xuebing's excellent lecture and stated that the lecture introduced labor relations and human resource management models under the gig economy from different research perspectives, with rich and insightful content. It provided the audience with a deeper understanding of flexible employment and brought constructive guidance for future labor relations research.

Dr. Cao Xuebing is currently a senior lecturer in human resources management at Keele Business School in the United Kingdom, and a member of the editorial boards of journals such as International Human Resources Management and Asian Human Resources. His research directions include comparative labor relations, migrant workers, labor market, labor unions, performance appraisals, wages, and work-family conflicts. His current research topics include "The Belt and Road and Decent Work: Opportunities and Challenges in East African Countries", "Human Capital and the Mobility of a New Generation of Migrant Workers", and "New Ideas for Trade Union Organization in a Platform Economy". He has published many papers and presided over the topics of "Collective Wage Negotiation and Changing Chinese Labor Relations" and "International Investment, Labor Market and Labor Relations: Sustainable Development and Challenges Facing Kenya".

(International Office of Cooperation and Exchange)