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reporter of china business network: zhao wenqi editors of china business network: chen keming, chen junjie

what is the average monthly income of a rider? how many high-frequency riders are there on the meituan platform? what is the educational distribution of riders?

during the mid-autumn festival holiday that just passed, meituan ceo wang xing sent a letter to all employees, in which he mentioned:last year, approximately 7.45 million riders earned income on the meituan platform, with compensation exceeding 80 billion yuan. this data also triggered discussions in the industry about the survival and income status of food delivery riders.

on september 19, meituan research institute released the latest data, further explaining the structure and income of riders on the platform. data obtained by daily economic news reporters show thatamong meituan’s 7.45 million riders who have income from orders, 11% of the total number, or about 819,500 people, have received orders for more than 260 days a year; about 48% of the riders who have income from orders have received orders for less than 30 days a year.

the data also revealed that if a rider runs orders for more than 260 days a year and takes more than 6 hours a day on average, his income will be competitive in the local area.if a rider delivers orders in a first-tier city, his monthly income can reach more than 7,354 yuan. if he delivers orders in a third-tier city or below, his monthly income can reach more than 5,556 yuan.

as for the data circulating online, "among meituan's 7.45 million earning riders, 80,000 are postgraduates (1%), 300,000 are undergraduates (4%), and the total number of crowdsourcing riders is 51 million", meituan research institute stated that the data of undergraduate and postgraduate students need to be verified by submitting their academic certificates and degree certificates to china higher education student information and career center.currently, any rider data in this regard is a rumor without factual basis.

monthly income of high-frequency riders at a glance:

first-tier cities: rmb 7,354 or above

a reporter from the daily economic news learned that meituan riders include ordinary crowdsourcing and lepao riders. the former have no requirements on the number of days they have to run orders and have more flexible working hours, while the latter have requirements on the number of days they have to run orders and have higher average income.

meituan research institute data shows that in june 2024, among high-frequency riders,the income of crowdsourcing and lepao riders in beijing, shanghai, guangzhou and shenzhen was 7,354 yuan and 11,014 yuan respectively, while the average income in third-tier and lower cities was 5,556 yuan and 7,197 yuan respectively.it basically represents the range of average income of high-frequency riders.

according to the data, the peak delivery hours in a day are between 11:00-13:00 and 17:00-20:00. there are a large number of part-time riders who mainly take advantage of the two peak hours in the afternoon and evening to undertake delivery tasks, and can earn higher incomes in a shorter period of time.

the distribution of takeaway orders during the ordering period shows that riders can earn higher incomes in a shorter period of time during peak hours. (research report on china's takeaway industry (first three quarters of 2019))

in meituan’s business system, food delivery riders play an important role. in its core local commercial business, key businesses such as food delivery and meituan flash purchases are inseparable from the delivery services of food delivery riders.according to meituan’s 2023 financial report data,in 2023, meituan’s delivery service revenue was 82.19 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.3%. the annual number of instant delivery orders was 21.893 billion, a year-on-year increase of 23.8%.in january this year, the china new employment form research center released the "2023 china blue-collar employment research report", which pointed out thatin 2023, the average monthly income of deliverymen was 6,803 yuan, exceeding the average of 6,043 yuan for the blue-collar group. the income levels of occupations such as deliverymen, confinement nannies, and truck drivers are among the highest among blue-collar workers.

food delivery riders become a transitional employment option for workers

research estimates released by iresearch consulting show that the scale of the instant delivery industry will be approximately 341 billion yuan in 2023, and is expected to exceed 810 billion yuan in 2028. as its scale continues to expand, the instant delivery industry is also absorbing more and more employees.

the reporter sorted out meituan’s financial report and found thatfrom 2020 to 2022, the number of riders who received income from meituan was 4.7 million, 5.27 million, and 6.24 million, respectively, and by 2023, this figure increased to 7.45 million. according to the "2023 ele.me rider rights protection report", in 2023, the number of active riders on the ele.me platform exceeded 4 million.

however, according to the data released by meituan, more than 80% of the riders are low-frequency or amateur riders.there are only a few who truly rely entirely on full-time food delivery to earn a stable income, accounting for only 11% of the total number of riders.

in this regard, meituan research institute stated that food delivery riders have become a transitional employment option for many workers, showing a strong transitional feature, which is also consistent with the previous survey results from various sectors of society. previously, a scholar found that the turnover rate of station riders reached more than 70% within a year, and "working as a food delivery rider while looking for other opportunities" has become the norm in the food delivery industry.

a spokesperson for meituan research institute revealed that taking into account the high mobility characteristics and complex working environment of riders, meituan has specially hired 214 riders in 77 cities across the country to become meituan product experience officers. at present, these riders have put forward more than 750 optimization suggestions, more than 410 of which have been optimized and launched nationwide, and more than 80 are being optimized and upgraded.

as a new form of flexible employment, the rights and interests protection and income issues of food delivery workers have always aroused social concern. tian yongpo, director of the human resources market and mobility management research office and researcher at the chinese academy of personnel sciences, once publicly stated that the rapid development of new employment forms has become an important force in enhancing economic vitality and absorbing employment.in terms of employment, the results of the ninth national survey on the status of the workforce showed that the number of workers in new employment forms reached 84 million, accounting for 21% of the total number of employees.

however, he also mentioned that the development of new employment forms still faces some problems that need to be regulated urgently. for example, the employment chain is long, it is difficult to identify the actual employer, and workers have no right to exercise their power after employment disputes arise.rights protectionat the same time, the ambiguity of the employer also increases the difficulty of incorporating new employment forms into the existing social security system.

in this regard, tian yongpo put forward suggestions including standardizing the labor employment relationship between platform companies and practitioners of new employment forms, strengthening the protection of the rights and interests of workers in new employment forms, and vigorously carrying out vocational skills training for new employment forms.

reporter|zhao wenqi

edit|chen keming chen junjie du hengfengproofreading|duan lian

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