The Chinese tech giant Meituan published a new report on the salaries and working conditions of its millions-strong delivery workforce last week, as the company seeks to move on from a series of recent controversies.

But the report has provoked backlash on social media, with users arguing that the figures suggesting riders earn high wages and work few hours on average are deceptive.

China’s food delivery platforms have endured a turbulent summer, with a string of scandals related to the tough working conditions in the industry going viral on social media.

Earlier this month, a 55-year-old rider died on his bike after reportedly working 18-hour shifts in the summer heat. In late August, another rider fainted while working and was later diagnosed with a cerebral infarction.

But in its report, Meituan emphasized that the vast majority of its riders do not work under such intense conditions. Of its 7.45 million delivery workers, only 11% took orders more than 260 days per year and approximately 48% worked fewer than 30 days each year, the report said.

Full-time riders, which Meituan refers to as “happy runner” riders, make up only a small fraction of the company’s delivery force. These happy runners are required to meet specific monthly quotas regarding their number of deliveries and working hours. But they earn a far higher salary in return.

In China’s largest cities, happy runners earn 11,014 yuan ($1,561) per month on average, while part-time riders earn 7,354 yuan, according to Meituan. In lower-tier cities, happy runners earn an average monthly income of 7,197 yuan, while part-time riders make 5,556 yuan.

In Shanghai, an income of 11,000 yuan per month is slightly lower than the official average wage of 12,300 yuan. But the figure was still higher than many netizens expected, a related hashtag on the microblogging platform Weibo receiving 300,000 views.

Others, however, were quick to point out that the income data is misleading, as gig workers do not receive the same benefits as full-time employees in other industries.

“It just looks high, actually they have no social security and work long hours every day,” one user wrote.

Recent reports by third-party organizations support that assertion. Research by the nongovernmental organization Beijing Zhicheng Migrant Workers Legal Aid and Research Center revealed that food delivery platforms routinely outsource the recruitment and management of their riders to third-party agencies, meaning that they are not required to offer them full labor protections.

According to the report, less than 1% of food delivery riders in China are directly employed by the delivery platform they work for.

In 2022, several major delivery platforms started to offer injury insurance to their riders on a trial basis. According to Meituan, 4.5 million of its riders are now covered by the program.

Local governments are also exploring ways to offer delivery riders better protections, such as by providing additional occupational insurance and direct compensation payments to those who sustain injuries.

But in other ways, conditions for riders continue to get tougher. In a series of surveys of nearly 10,000 delivery workers since 2017, Sun Ping, a researcher at the Institute of Journalism and Communication under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, found that platforms are pressuring riders to work longer hours than ever before.

In 2018, only 36.5% of the full-time delivery riders Sun surveyed reported working over 10 hours a day. By 2021, this figure had risen to 62.6%.

According to Sun, the change is being driven by a combination of factors. There has been a surge in people turning to gig work, meaning riders face more internal competition. Meanwhile, the platforms have changed their algorithms in the name of maximizing efficiency, which has forced some riders to work longer hours to earn the same income.

“The platform-based gig economy creates an illusion that ordinary people can achieve a good life and have autonomy over their work choices. However, behind this ‘ideal platform narrative’ lies a reality of increasingly rigid social mobility and limited career development opportunities,” Sun told domestic media.

Meituan claims that it is working hard to improve conditions for its riders. The company has appointed 214 riders to provide feedback, a spokesperson from the firm told domestic media. So far, Meituan has implemented 410 of their suggestions, the person added.

Meituan also plans to introduce new “fatigue prevention” measures, such as tweaking its systems to avoid riders being overloaded with orders during peak delivery times.

Last year, Meituan’s 7.45 million riders collectively earned over 80 billion yuan from the platform, Wang Xing, the company’s founder, told staff in an internal memo.

(Header image: Meituan drivers attend a morning meeting before starting the day’s food deliveries in Shenyang, Liaoning province, Aug. 13, 2024. VCG)