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✪ zhu guanglei, han linxiu

zhou enlai school of government, nankai university

【introduction】as the era of super-fast economic growth in china gradually comes to an end, the expectations of social development formed by the chinese people over the past thirty years have changed, and people have begun to have various anxieties, among which the discussion on "class solidification" is a very representative manifestation. so, what is the structure of various types of people in china today? what are the similarities and differences with public opinion perception?based on various national statistical data around 2023, this article extracts ten characteristics of changes in the domestic class structure, providing a reference for personal cognition and policy guidance.

this article points out that the "working class" in both the broad and narrow sense has become the largest group in china. the number of manual labor workers in the traditional sense has been declining, and high-tech blue-collar workers and white-collar workers who use communications and the internet as labor tools have gradually become the mainstream. the requirements for education foundation, skills, etc. in the profession are constantly increasing. the rural population continues to decrease. with the decrease in the number of "farmers" in the traditional sense, a new class of agricultural practitioners has begun to emerge. at the same time, the number of domestic individual workers, flexible employment personnel, and private business owners has increased, and higher requirements have been put forward for corresponding public services such as social security and career guidance. the scale of the migrant worker group has entered a plateau period, but there is still a long way to go to make this group "urbanized" in all aspects. the intellectual class shows more "professional and technical personnel" rather than the characteristics of "scholars" or "literati" in the traditional sense, but it still leads the development of the social spirit. the civil servant group has grown moderately under the premise of increasing demand for social public services. at the same time, with the support of digital technology, it has "continued to reduce and increase in key areas" and its structure has been continuously optimized.

the authors note:education is still the most important factor affecting domestic class mobility, but academic qualifications have gradually changed from a "sufficient factor" to a "necessary factor" for class change.at the same time, the continuous increase in personnel mobility is also forcing various unfavorable policies to be adjusted accordingly.the author emphasizes that insufficient per capita resources are the main cause of the current conflicts among different classes. policies should be "not tossing and turning, not to cause trouble", establish an open and inclusive social environment, and promote cooperation and progress among all classes and groups.

this article was originally published in the 4th issue of administrative forum in 2024, and its original title was "ten new characteristics of china's class structure changes at this stage"》，it only represents the author's views and is for readers' reference.

the current chinese class

ten new features of the changing pattern

the change in the social class structure is the most fundamental and profound change in chinese society at this stage. it affects the direction of china's social development and public policy making. as a new stage of differentiation and reorganization of chinese social classes since the reform and opening up, after experiencing the "great differentiation and new combination" in the late 20th century, class mobility has gradually become stable and orderly. in the new development period, the driving force of reform and opening up continues to exist, and new technologies and new industrial revolutions continue to inject new impetus into class differentiation. at the same time, new forces such as the private economy are also playing a unique role. on the whole, the mobility of chinese social members is still full of vitality, and the changes in social structure are gradually in line with international development.undoubtedly, as china enters a new stage of development, both internal reform and opening up to the outside world will move to a higher level, which will inevitably bring a wider range of social members into the new development trend. under the influence of different forces, china's social class structure is more complex than in the early stage of the socialist market economic system reform, and the class development situation has also shown some new characteristics.

▍the total size of the working class has grown steadily, the number of white-collar workers has continued to increase, and the degree of integration between "blue and white" workers has increased, but the differentiation characteristics within each are becoming more prominent.

in china, the term "working class" has traditionally been used mainly from the perspective of political life, and is mainly used to analyze the political foundation of the people's regime. as a basic concept for analyzing the composition of social members, the working class covers a very wide range of social members. it mainly includes the narrow working class, civil servants and professional and technical personnel; soldiers and retired employees within the system can also be included in the scope of the working class to a certain extent. this scale is very large.at present, the working class in a narrow sense, that is, blue-collar workers and white-collar workers, has exceeded 400 million. whether it is the broad working class or the narrow working class, it has become the largest, most influential and most extensive group in china.

the focus here is on the working class in a narrow sense.among them, the number of white-collar workers has gradually increased with the expansion of the working class, but blue-collar workers still dominate. at present, the size ratio between blue-collar and white-collar workers is about 2:1. the proportion of white-collar employees in the most developed urban areas such as beijing, shanghai, and shenzhen is even higher.the blue-collar and white-collar classes are showing a development trend of "great integration and small differences".with the popularization of knowledge and the widespread application of mechanization and electrification, the quality of blue-collar workers has been significantly improved, and the gap between them and white-collar workers in terms of working environment, salary, labor security, etc. is shrinking. at present, the difference between "blue-collar workers" and "white-collar workers" is mainly reflected in the difference in salary income and access to public service products between manual blue-collar workers and creative white-collar workers.

among blue-collar workers, there is a more obvious differentiation into two groups: manual workers and skilled workers. among them, manual workers are the traditional blue-collar workers who complete the required labor through physical strength and simple tools. they are mainly in heavy physical, high-risk, low-income labor links such as handling, loading and unloading, assembly, and assembly. they are concentrated in engineering construction, mining and smelting, clothing manufacturing, warehousing and tallying, etc. this group mainly comes from the ranks of migrant workers, and low education is its main feature.with the application of new technologies, the upgrading of intelligent manufacturing and automation technologies, and the popularization of vocational education and higher education, the size of this group is gradually shrinking, while the ranks of skilled workers are gradually expanding.skilled workers are different from the handicraft workers, craftsmen and artisans that have existed in history. they mainly rely on the skilled operation of machines and equipment to complete high-precision, high-efficiency and high-level finishing and product assembly work in the production process. because they have a skill, they have more opportunities to obtain relatively stable jobs. with the application of highly automated equipment such as digitalization and intelligence, the workshop is also cleaner, so their working environment and labor protection have obvious advantages over manual workers. since the 1990s, the master-apprentice relationship has been gradually eliminated. vocational colleges and technical schools have cultivated a large number of high-quality talents for the skilled worker team, and the corresponding skill level assessment standards have become more scientific and fair. under the requirements of high-quality development of china's industrial system, skilled workers are an indispensable team of workers. according to the information of the "ninth china workers' status survey (report volume)", as of the end of 2021, the number of workers involved in skilled labor exceeded 200 million, accounting for more than a quarter of the total employed population. however, among them, workers without technical grades accounted for 74.5% of the total labor force, and skilled workers with senior workers and above accounted for only 5.4%. this data reflects the current situation that the scale of china's skilled workers is still small and the quality is not high.

the internal differentiation of white-collar workers has produced a skilled white-collar group. they have the same working environment as traditional white-collar workers and also perform related work in clean and suitable office areas. unlike the intellectual white-collar workers who engage in creative work, the job of skilled white-collar workers does not require them to think independently, and even excludes their personalized thinking. like blue-collar skilled workers, they only need to carry out the tasks assigned by their superiors, and even carry them out according to standard procedures. the main content of their work is to complete the corresponding text, charts and simple information transmission through computers, networks and telephones.in terms of the nature of their work, they are no different from blue-collar skilled workers who operate machine buttons in factory production workshops, except that their work relies on computers, the internet and telephones. therefore, the income of this group is not much better than that of blue-collar skilled workers, and is even lower than that of higher-level skilled workers.currently, newly employed university graduates and most non-graded employees belong to this class. with the popularization of computers and the internet, their jobs increasingly require less special job training and academic qualifications, which is the deep-seated reason why highly educated employees are dissatisfied with their jobs. due to the lack of field requirements in their work, overtime has become an important feature of this group at this stage. the many similarities between skilled white-collar workers and skilled blue-collar workers in terms of working environment, remuneration and benefits have made the boundary between blue-collar and white-collar workers increasingly blurred, and the middle group has gradually become larger, which is conducive to the integration of "blue and white" and the promotion of the formation of a middle-income group. compared with developed countries that have completed modernization, the number of white-collar workers and skilled blue-collar workers in china and their proportion of the labor force are still relatively small.there is still a certain gap in social recognition between blue-collar workers, especially manual workers, and white-collar workers. some potential misunderstandings are not conducive to social unity and high-quality development of the industry.

▍the traditional peasant class is further decomposed, the number of agricultural laborers is further reduced, and a new agricultural laborer class with professional farmers as the main body is about to emerge.

at present, china's broad farmers have formed a circle structure, namely, three overlapping "circles" consisting of "agricultural workers", "rural resident population" and "rural registered population". as of 2022, the populations corresponding to these three "circles" are 177 million, 491 million and 673 million respectively. the proportion of primary industry practitioners has dropped from 70.5% of the labor force in 1978 to 24.1% in 2022. although the decline is large, this proportion is still high compared with the level of less than 10% in developed countries such as europe, the united states and japan.limited by the per capita land area and arable land conditions, the mechanization level of most arable land still has a lot of room for improvement. the trend of large-scale and mechanized farming operations has provided impetus for the further decomposition of the traditional farmer group; at the same time, urbanization construction has provided more jobs, higher salaries and a more convenient living environment for the labor force, driving the transformation of farmers into workers. between the push and pull, the number of traditional agricultural workers is continuing to decrease at a scale of nearly 10 million per year. social problems such as the "hollowing out" of the rural population caused by early population mobility will also be gradually eliminated with the high-level development of population mobility. on the one hand, migrant workers will gradually bring their relatives to live in the city after their lives stabilize; on the other hand, with the increase in rural workers and businessmen and the development of urban construction, many rural areas will also develop into towns, providing more low-cost options for population mobility to towns.

as the number of rural household registration circles and rural residential circles continues to decrease, the size of the agricultural labor class will gradually stabilize, and a new agricultural labor class (narrowly defined as the peasant class) with professional farmers as the main body has begun to form. the new type of agricultural laborers has transformed agricultural labor into a profession, and practitioners have more thoroughly gotten rid of the shackles of "peasant identity."members of the new agricultural labor class may not be born in rural areas or agricultural labor families. at present, the urban population has begun to move into rural areas to carry out new agricultural production activities. referring to the development laws of developed countries, the per capita arable land area of ​​new agricultural workers is large, which is conducive to mechanized production operations, and they have technology, management, and business, and are more closely connected with the market. rural social living conditions, public services and social security levels will also be gradually further optimized with the reform of the household registration system. it is worth noting that due to the covid-19 epidemic and the global economic downturn, the urbanization process has slowed down, and the rate of decline in the number of farmers has declined. compared with 2021, the agricultural labor population in 2022 will increase by about 6 million, which is the first increase in nearly 20 years. at present, the country is implementing a new round of "urbanization of agricultural transfer population" action. with the support of this policy, the scale of agricultural workers and rural residents will inevitably be further reduced under the high level of population mobility.

▍the intellectual class continues to act as a driver of social spiritual trends, and its guiding role in production and circulation, social management and public services is further enhanced.

intellectuals in a broad sense include professional and technical personnel (intellectuals in a narrow sense), civil servants, and white-collar workers in enterprises with a university degree or above. the white-collar group in a broad sense is composed of white-collar employees in enterprises (white-collar workers in a narrow sense), professional and technical personnel, and civil servants. therefore, a "three-three correspondence" pattern has been formed between intellectuals in a broad sense and white-collar workers in a broad sense in terms of origin, education, and occupation, and each of them has a core. in a labor environment where theory and practice are fully combined, the two major groups of intellectuals in a broad sense and white-collar workers are actually difficult to separate from social reality. at present, the number of people who have received higher education (including college) is roughly equivalent to the size of intellectuals in a broad sense.according to the data of the seventh national census in 2020, there are 217 million people with college education or above in china, accounting for about 14.4% of the total population;in the third national census in 1982, the population with higher education accounted for only about 0.7% of the total population. after more than 40 years of development in education, the proportion of people with higher education has increased more than 20 times; the illiteracy rate has dropped to 2.67%; and the consolidation rate of nine-year compulsory education has reached 95.7%. the overall cultural quality of chinese social members is no longer the generally low-educated state in the early days of reform and opening up. their higher level of cultural attainment is driving the development of national life and public management affairs to a higher level. with the substantial increase in the number of intellectuals in a broad sense, it is difficult to continue to use "intellectuals" as a benchmark concept for class analysis. the concept of "intellectuals" in the general sense is actually being marginalized and is inconvenient to use.

intellectuals in a narrow sense refer to those members of society who are engaged in the innovation and development of knowledge in the fields of philosophy and social sciences, natural sciences and technology, medicine and life sciences, literature and art, etc. their main characteristic is the development and creation of new knowledge.they are different from both the white-collar class in enterprises and the civil servant class. at this stage, they mainly engage in cultural and professional and technical work in various schools, hospitals, scientific research institutes, etc. their main characteristics are that they can fully and systematically master scientific and cultural knowledge, and at the same time have outstanding depth in professional or technical aspects. they are not "literati" in the past sense, and they are even more different from the "scholars" in the past. it may be more accurate to use the term "professional and technical personnel" to describe the current "intellectual class". the report of the 20th national congress of the communist party of china pointed out: "chinese-style modernization is a modernization of coordinated material and spiritual civilization." material civilization has made rapid progress with the help of science and technology. at the same time, the whole society should also pay attention to people's pursuit of spiritual civilization and the spiritual outlook of society. the high-quality development of the population has put forward higher requirements for the country's spiritual style, social management and public services. professional and technical personnel will play their own advantages in this regard and provide high-quality and rich spiritual food and accurate understanding of scientific laws for members of society and various organizations.today, as higher education becomes more and more popular, professional and technical personnel play an active role in the construction of ideology and humanistic style. they are high-quality talents in various industries, and they also indirectly affect the quality of the labor force.for example, more and more private economic personnel are receiving systematic training in higher education or professional degrees, which gives them the opportunity to receive more positive influences in ideology, social cognition, lifestyle, etc. and to be exposed to a wider range of professional information at home and abroad.

▍under the combined influence of factors such as changes in the domestic and international economic situation and adjustments to relevant policies, the growth rate of migrant workers has slowed down slightly and the number of migrant workers has decreased slightly.

the concept of "township enterprise workers" has basically faded out of the academic research and policy-making fields. the view that "migrant workers" can be divided into "local migrant workers" and "migrant workers" has been confirmed.the distribution pattern of migrant workers is basically stable, with migrant workers out of town slightly more than local workers. according to the national bureau of statistics' annual migrant worker monitoring survey data, the total number of migrant workers in china was 291 million in 2019.among them, there are 117 million local migrant workers and 174 million migrant workers. during the covid-19 pandemic, the total number of migrant workers in china in 2020 was 286 million, the first negative growth in the number of migrant workers. in 2023, the number of migrant workers in china will be about 298 million, the largest in history, an increase of 0.6% over 2022. among them, there are 121 million local migrant workers and 177 million migrant workers. in addition to the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, the policy of dredging has also effectively controlled the growth of migrant workers. among them, the number of migrant workers who work across provinces has decreased year by year from 76.75 million in 2017 to 67.51 million in 2023. the inter-provincial mobility of the labor force has slowed down or even decreased, which is worth noting. in addition to the temporary influencing factor of the covid-19 pandemic, the negative effects of stubborn constraints such as the imbalanced allocation of public service resources under the household registration system are becoming more prominent, and the cost of working outside the province is rising. at the same time, the policy factors of provincial governments coordinating development, local governments actively promoting regional urbanization, and striving to retain the labor force and provide employment have played a positive role.

due to changes in the economic situation and population size, the population of migrant workers will not increase much in the future.from the perspective of the “entry point”, firstly, china’s population has entered a negative growth phase, and the “hollowing out” of rural areas has caused a decrease in the number of people of childbearing age; secondly, the population size of the three “circles” of farmers has gradually shrunk in recent years. these factors reflect that the total population in rural areas is continuing to decrease, and the “source” of migrant workers is shrinking. from the perspective of the “exit point”, due to the traction effect of policies, the speed at which migrant workers are converted into urban population will gradually achieve a higher growth rate than that of migrant workers. therefore, the size of this class will no longer grow significantly.however, due to the large rural population base and the small volume of public resources in cities, it will be difficult to fully eliminate the scale of migrant workers in a short period of time, so a plateau period will appear in the next period of time.

the migrant worker group will increasingly have the characteristics of a transitional class. first, the group with college degree or above accounts for 13.7% of the migrant worker team, and many of them are newly graduated college students whose household registration remains in their hometowns. they have more opportunities to obtain stable jobs, and thus achieve a dual leap from rural to urban areas and from agriculture to industry and service industries in terms of labor form. second, the rural household population has begun to integrate into urban life to a high degree. at present, the rural household population is 182 million more than the rural permanent population. it is worth noting that at the end of the year, there were 128 million migrant workers living in cities. this shows that many migrant workers have "taken root" in cities and towns. they are already urban residents in terms of work and life, and rural household registration is the last trace of their "peasant identity". third, since 2015, the new migrant workers have mainly been local migrant workers. considering the fact that the rural labor force generally has part-time jobs, the actual number of local migrant workers will be larger than the statistical data, and with the advancement of urbanization, many rural areas will develop into cities, and they can no longer be called farmers in terms of work nature and living conditions.by joining the ranks of migrant workers, rural agricultural laborers first transformed into workers in terms of the nature of their work, and then into "urbanites" in terms of their living environment, gradually achieving their own class leap. we cannot use the concept of "agricultural industrialization" to "cover up" the rural population that has already transformed into the secondary and tertiary industries.

▍the size of the self-employed workforce has grown rapidly in recent years, and online platforms have become the main mode of operation for practitioners.

as the earliest class to start and regain vitality after the reform and opening up, the self-employed labor class has been playing the role of "nerve endings" in economic and social life, meeting the employment and daily life needs of urban and rural residents. around 2000, due to multiple factors such as chain supermarkets and urban appearance rectification, the number of self-employed workers once decreased to 45.87 million. in recent years, with the prosperity of online shopping and the standardization of related management, the scale of self-employed businesses and related practitioners has expanded again.the latest data from the state administration for market regulation shows that by the end of 2023, there will be 124 million registered individual businesses nationwide, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total number of business entities, and creating employment for about 300 million people. such a huge scale of the individual economy reflects the reality that our productivity level and the level of development of the socialist market economy are still low, and the level of construction of relevant social systems and mechanisms still needs to be improved.the individual economy has the characteristics of small capital scale and diversified work forms, which expands the employment scope of the labor force, is conducive to the low-skilled population (such as people aged 40-50) to increase family income through self-employment, and correspondingly reduces the government's public service and social welfare burden. the individual economy is the foundation of the urban and rural employment structure, playing a role in supporting people's livelihood and promoting exchanges and interactions among social members.

individual workers are first and foremost workers, and they are the combination of labor and means of production. at present, the cooperation of individual economic practitioners is still based on family members. different from the individual industrial and commercial households that operated shops in the 20th century, online services and mobile shopping are the main business methods of this class in the new development period. at this stage, individual workers mainly come from the unemployed population, housewives and migrant workers, and many of them are part-time workers. their income status has changed from the dominant state in the late 20th century to the mass level. although the form of online stores enables them to have the opportunity to obtain a wider range of customer sources to obtain higher income, the income level of most practitioners is not high, and they are even the lower income group in the city. at present, the newly increased individual industrial and commercial households are mainly concentrated on online shopping platforms, and there are still relatively few who manage physical stores. on the one hand, the dual influence of chain supermarkets and the requirements of urban appearance and municipal administration still exists; on the other hand, the online platform enables relevant practitioners to have convenient approval procedures and "zero cost" store investment, and they no longer need to worry about store decoration and maintenance, water, electricity, gas and other related matters. with the help of the internet and communication technology, individual workers are more closely connected with commodity manufacturers. individual business owners of various daily necessities are more like salesmen of production companies, but unlike in the past, they do not need to stock up on goods or worry about the quality of goods. since the new form of placing orders through individual merchants and direct shipment by manufacturers eliminates various intermediaries, the working hours of individual workers are also more flexible. the rise of online platforms is also due to the insufficient development of physical stores and related services in people's living areas.under the new network-dominated trend, it is worthy of attention to guide individual workers to provide residents with close and intuitive services in areas of urgent and personalized needs of social members, especially the layout planning of service stores in cities and the improvement of service quality, which are worthy of further exploration by academia and government departments.

▍the economy is integrated with the non-public economy, the number of private entrepreneurs has increased, and the characteristics of social development are obvious.

under the trend of economic globalization and marketization, and in the context of various economic forms of "you have me, i have you", and under the conditions of adhering to the "two unshakable" principles and striving to better combine "promoting economic development" with "persisting in developing the non-public economy", private enterprises have continued to maintain a stable development trend, and the scale of investors has also increased. private enterprises are the main component of private enterprises.as of september 2023, the number of registered private enterprises has exceeded 52 million, accounting for 92.3% of the total number of enterprises. it is estimated that the number of private business owners is around 80 million.at the 2018 private enterprise symposium, general secretary xi jinping summarized the characteristics of private enterprises, including private enterprises, as "five, six, seven, eight, nine", that is, private enterprises contribute more than 50% of taxes, more than 60% of gdp, more than 70% of technological innovation results, more than 80% of urban employment, and more than 90% of the number of enterprises. at present, the import and export scale of private enterprises accounts for more than half of the total import and export volume, reaching 54.3% in the first quarter of 2024. they also play a role that cannot be underestimated in scientific and technological research and development and foreign exchanges, especially in connecting the private forces in hong kong, macao and taiwan and international economic exchanges.it should be pointed out that although various types of private economy have achieved considerable development, their scale is generally small overall, and they mainly exist in low-tech, light-capital, and less r&d fields.among them, wholesale and retail enterprises accounted for nearly 6.3%.as of 2022, there are only 349,000 private industrial enterprises above designated size nationwide, mainly in light industries such as clothing, toys, and agricultural and sideline food processing, and low-tech bulk civilian industrial products such as ceramics and cement. traditional family-run businesses still dominate, and the family income of most business owners is not at the "rich" level.

it is worth noting that the social development of private enterprises is accelerating.first, china's private economy has been facing the global trend of corporate shareholding since its birth. with the development of enterprise scale and in order to reduce investment and operating risks, the shareholding system has become the active choice of private business owners. at the same time, the threshold for enterprise registration and establishment is getting higher and higher, and the amount of registered capital is also increasing. from the beginning of enterprise registration, it faces the situation of multiple partners. from the perspective of ownership, private enterprises are no longer the private property of a certain person as in the past. second, a large amount of funds of enterprises are used to purchase factories and production equipment, and most of the funds come from social loans. they are used by the majority of workers as fixed assets, rather than being kept by the individual business owners in the form of currency. third, china's private business owners are not rentiers who are completely separated from production and operation activities like western capitalists. they are still the combination of capital and management labor. fourth, china's private enterprises and public economic organizations are integrated with each other in social construction and specific business. under the framework of the relatively mature socialist system and in the process of exploring the socialist market economy, they regulate and learn from each other, and have formed a benign relationship of both competition and cooperation. therefore, from the perspective of development trends, with the development of the mixed economy and the improvement of the degree of socialization of enterprises, the concepts of "private enterprises" and "private entrepreneurs" are likely to be replaced by the concepts of "private enterprises" and "private entrepreneurs".

▍the group of flexible workers has developed into a large class, which has created new pressure on traditional labor methods and the government's public services, social management and related supervision.

flexible workers refer to workers who are different from the mainstream factory-based employment mode. they have a high degree of flexibility and autonomy in labor relations, working hours, income methods, labor fields, insurance and welfare, etc. china has a large population and scarce resources. against the background of long-term shortage of conventional jobs, driven by the development of internet technology and stimulated by the covid-19 epidemic, a class of flexible workers with informal corporate labor, flexible working hours and free work plans has emerged.individual workers, freelancers, migrant workers in a sporadic employment status, and domestic nannies are representatives of traditional flexible workers. relying on the development of the internet, digital platforms, and mobile communication technologies, enterprises that are in line with the digital economy have absorbed and formed a new type of flexible workers. together with part-time workers, they constitute a narrow class of flexible workers.flexible workers in a narrow sense mainly include new employment forms such as online car-hailing drivers, delivery personnel, online talent live broadcast personnel, online tutors and cultural and tourism guides. they have the characteristics of flexible employment methods, scattered group structure, and rapid member mobility. together with traditional flexible workers, they form a broad flexible worker, thus forming two circles in terms of scale.

as an emerging class, flexible workers are currently concentrated in the circulation, exchange, distribution of goods, cultural training, life services and other consumer fields. class members mainly use the internet as a working medium, which has led to complex and diverse labor positions. the relevant practitioners have complex backgrounds, diverse work fields, and uneven income levels.there are many types of work entities and types of work, including team organizations, individual members, long-term participation, temporary employment, etc. they do not directly produce goods, but use the internet platform to distribute and sell goods.it should be pointed out that culture and art are becoming a commodity. in the stage of social development when literary and artistic works are abundant, they also use the internet platform for promotion and sales.since the work of flexible workers basically does not require special job training, most flexible workers have no advantages in terms of education, skill level, professional quality, etc., and their income level is not high. at present, they are mainly concentrated in the labor employment field of low-end operations and simple service industries, and are still in a relatively weak position in terms of social status, remuneration and social security. it is worth noting that although the flexible workers are mainly simple workers, the number of highly educated groups is increasing. while industries such as sales presentations, course tutoring, and cultural introductions are developing, they have also absorbed a large number of flexible workers. due to the openness of related industries, the power of private capital intervenes in the choices of social members. phenomena such as "hype", "inducement" and big data "killing the familiar" are common, which has a significant impact on the ideological understanding and public opinion of social members.it is precisely because of the "flexibility" of employment conditions that not only does it bring greater uncertainty to the career development of practitioners, but it also poses new challenges to traditional labor security and social welfare systems.the report of the 20th cpc national congress clearly pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of workers in flexible employment and new employment forms. this shows that the development scale of flexible employment and the living conditions, working conditions, social management and protection of related practitioners have received the attention of the party and the government, and the social problems brought about and reflected by flexible employment forms will also be alleviated accordingly in policy formulation.

▍the civil service class has remained stable in terms of political behavior and size, with more scientific assessment methods, more standardized income, and harder work.

according to the data from the statistical bulletin on the development of human resources and social security in 2016 released by the ministry of human resources and social security, the number of civil servants in china, that is, civil servants in a narrow sense, reached 7.19 million in 2016. since then, the ministry of human resources and social security and the statistical department have not updated the relevant data. the broad definition of civil servants should also include those who participate in public affairs, party and mass organizations, workers, youth and women's organizations, and those working in related systems. the current total number is more than 19 million, accounting for about 1.4% of the total population of the country. the above two scales and proportions are still relatively low compared with developed countries. compared with the average salary of practitioners in other industries, the actual income of relevant practitioners is not high. since the 18th national congress of the communist party of china, under the background of the central eight regulations and severe anti-corruption measures, the salary and benefits of civil servants have been standardized, and the gray income of a few people has been effectively curbed.in the process of deepening the reform of the socialist market economic system, and with the increasing uncertainty of international economic and natural factors, civil servants are currently the most stable class in terms of income and lifestyle. for this reason, "taking the civil service exam" has become the first choice for members of society in pursuit of "stable" employment.on the one hand, with the accelerated development of urbanization and the continuous advancement of market-oriented reforms, public affairs will also increase accordingly; on the other hand, the public's requirements for public service levels and social management are constantly increasing, and the handling of public affairs is developing towards a high level and refinement.these factors may promote a moderate expansion of the size of the civil service, and at the same time, under the principle of establishing a digital government and "continuous reduction and focused increase", further optimization of the civil service structure between different levels and departments will be achieved.

since 1989, the civil service recruitment system has been formally established. a bachelor's degree has become the basic requirement for all current positions, which reflects the improvement of the basic quality of the civil service team. in recent years, civil service positions, especially selected positions, have further put forward specific requirements for the academic qualifications and majors of applicants, indicating that the development of the civil service team has begun to move towards specialization. the work of civil servants requires handling a large amount of policy information and practical affairs every day. in the stage of simultaneous construction of modernization and post-modernization, their work is very hard. compared with the inaccurate and vague statements such as "a cup of tea, a pack of cigarettes, and a newspaper to read for a day", their work is more like "5+2" and "day and night", and overtime has become the norm. it should be emphasized that most of them are not leading cadres, and are even more different from the "official masters" in the feudal society; like other members of social labor, civil servants are hard workers and builders of society. under the leadership of the communist party of china, the civil service class is a team willing to serve the people, and their important basic and leading role as a class in social life will continue to be highlighted.

▍the social mobility situation is basically normal, and the so-called "class solidification" has not formed.

at this stage, there are no longer any policy restrictions on a member of society to achieve the desired urban life from the countryside through his own efforts and choose the industry he aspires to work in. education is still a strong driving force for achieving class crossing. although the marginal benefits of academic qualifications have declined due to the popularization of education, and have evolved into negative public opinion such as "study is useless" and "lying flat",but in fact, education still plays a significant positive role in improving the labor conditions, working environment, remuneration, access to public products, social welfare and other aspects of social members. as mentioned above, the shortage of skilled blue-collar workers and the weakness of the white-collar workforce require social members with certain education and specific training to have the opportunity and ability to engage in related work. educational qualifications have gradually changed from a "sufficient factor" for personal employment to a "necessary factor."new technologies such as the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence have created a large number of new industries and new jobs, and have also put forward new requirements for the labor quality of members of society. these factors not only provide a continuous driving force for the differentiation and mobility of members of society, but also provide members of society with richer and broader social choices.the unreasonable phenomena encountered by members of society during the mobility process will also "force" the optimization of relevant social policies, especially promoting the continuous integration and improvement of unbalanced and insufficient public services and social security resources.

with the changes in population structure and the continuous refinement of social division of labor, more and more jobs with low knowledge and high skills will be generated in various industries. how to coordinate between complex job requirements and education orientation still needs to be studied and further optimized for education and labor systems. breaking the ceiling of skilled practitioners and opening up promotion channels for workers in different fields are the key to institutional reform.it must be acknowledged that if members of society want to achieve long-distance class mobility, there are still obstacles. this is because china's current economic development level still needs to be improved, and the expectations of social members for class leaps far outweigh the actual material gains brought to them by economic development. at the same time, the closed effect of vested interest groups cannot be ignored.at present, we should be vigilant about the problem that some people may have to move downward under the pressure of economic downturn. this is mainly because in the deepening stage of reform of "the market plays a decisive role in resource allocation", our society is also facing the external environment of global economic downturn, and a certain number of social members have to move from the advantaged class to the ordinary labor class. for example, it is not uncommon for private business owners to become ordinary employees again. it is no secret that chinese social members are not mentally prepared to "go up and down", especially the downward mobility brought about by economic fluctuations has a more obvious impact on the middle-income group, which has exacerbated the flood of "class solidification" public opinion. it needs to be emphasized that the mobility between chinese social members between classes is still strong, and the road is smooth. at any time, if you want to achieve personal pursuits, it is impossible without strong skills and strength.

▍the overall situation of class relations is normal, with cooperation and progress being the main theme, but we must guard against the proliferation of artificial factors that undermine class harmony.

for a long time, people from all walks of life and all fields have united to promote each other and integrate with each other, creating a good internal environment for socialist construction. however, three relatively extreme public opinions have recently emerged that need to be paid attention to. first, private entrepreneurs are excluded in the name of "socialism". private enterprises are created and developed under the care of the party, with the help of the reform and opening-up policy and the policy of enriching the people and strengthening the country. at the same time, there are a large number of elements such as mixed economy and community economy, which have their own uniqueness. the party and the government have repeatedly emphasized that private enterprises are their own people, which means that all kinds of private enterprises are an important part of the common development of multiple ownership economies with public ownership as the main body in my country, an equal participant in the socialist market economic system, and a participant in the construction of the primary stage of socialism and an important force that needs to be united. second, under the influence of populist thought, some people often use relatively sharp language to evaluate the remarks of "experts" and discredit the professional and technical personnel class. rumors of taking things out of context and misattributing them are common. some inappropriate forms of speech are neither an attitude of studying and solving problems nor a manifestation of respecting knowledge. related behaviors instigate internal contradictions and damage the work enthusiasm of professional and technical personnel. at present, experts in various fields mainly work in colleges and universities, hospitals and research institutes. they are the creators and disseminators of knowledge, and even discoverers of some major social problems and policy advisers. they not only undertake the research tasks of various topics required for national development, but also undertake a large number of government surveys and social public service work. excessive attacks on them are actually the resurgence of "theory of the uselessness of reading" and the social manifestation of "anti-intellectualism". some remarks have even evolved into personal attacks and acts that disrupt public order. third, the corruption of a few people is used as an excuse to discredit the entire class of civil servants. the vast majority of civil servants adhere to the purpose of "serving the people" and are the backbone of public services and the backbone of social management. the abuse and verbal attacks on the civil servant group are a manifestation of not distinguishing between individuals and groups. a class cannot be targeted because of the illegal behavior of a few people. this phenomenon is not conducive to class unity and is easily exploited by people with ulterior motives, which in turn causes an impact on public order.

with the deepening of reform and the development of new economic forms, the social class structure has become increasingly complex. it is urgent to clarify the development status of each class, the relationship between classes, and the relationship between different classes and the government. however, the current relevant research is insufficient. in the new development stage, the differentiation of class structure and the mobility of social members are still continuing, and the development concept of "trading time for space" still needs to be adhered to. "don't make trouble, don't make trouble" is the basic principle for maintaining harmonious class relations.history and the practice of various countries have proved that an inclusive and open social environment and political system have more development advantages. in the context of intertwined class relations and complex international background, the party and the government should take the initiative to make a difference and actively handle the relationship between the civil servant class, the professional and technical personnel class and other classes, the relationship between low-income groups and high-income groups, the relationship between workers and management personnel and private capital, and the relationship between blue-collar and white-collar workers. insufficient per capita resources are the fundamental cause of conflicts between classes. we must firmly grasp the general hub of modernization construction, deepen income distribution reform, and balance differences in other aspects with economic development; adhere to reform and opening up, promote contact and communication among members of society, promote cooperation through contact, and resolve differences through communication; coordinate the relationship between smooth speech and accurate speech, avoid the proliferation of bad public opinion; accelerate urbanization construction, and promote the balanced allocation of public resources. members of all classes should be guided to give full play to their respective enthusiasm and advantages and jointly promote social construction. social members should not only improve their personal professional level, but also improve their ability to distinguish right from wrong, especially enhance their social science cognition, and have a scientific and accurate understanding of china's development status.