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Digital platforms and informal employment in China's road freight transportation: A perspective of skill-biased technological change

Author

Listed:
  • Hang, Leiming
  • Tong, Sujuan
  • Ge, Xiaowei
  • Gorbachev, David

Abstract

Based on the hypothesis of skill biased technological change (SBTC), this paper explores the impact of digital platforms (DPs) on self-employed truckers in China's road freight sector. Analysis of the provincial panel data reveals that: (i) DPs increase the number of self-employed truckers, but only for light-duty truckers, with no significant effect on medium- or heavy-duty truckers; (ii) DPs enhance transportation productivity by significantly reducing road freight turnover rather than road freight volume; (iii) DPs boost formal employment and raise the ratio of formal to informal employment in the transportation sector, confirming the SBTC hypothesis. The findings of this study touch upon the social sustainability in road freight transportation. For those self-employed truckers, DPs have increased the job quantity at the cost of the job quality. Platformization intensifies competition among individual truckers. It also heightens platform–trucker conflicts of interest, manifested in platform authoritarianism. Moreover, competition among platforms themselves is escalating. Ultimately, SBTC has exerted extensive and profound impacts on employment in both the transportation and manufacturing, and its negative effects deserve more attention from policymakers.

Suggested Citation

  • Hang, Leiming & Tong, Sujuan & Ge, Xiaowei & Gorbachev, David, 2026. "Digital platforms and informal employment in China's road freight transportation: A perspective of skill-biased technological change," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:117:y:2026:i:c:s0739885926000752
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2026.101778
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    JEL classification:

    • R49 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Other

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