Employment quality, non-standard work, and health: Evidence from China

Non-standard forms of employment have expanded rapidly with the rise of the digital economy, reshaping labor markets and raising new concerns about employment quality and health. Using nationally representative data from the 2018, 2021, and 2023 waves of the Chinese General Social Survey, this study examines the quality of employment among non-standard workers and its association with physical and mental health. A latent class analysis of detailed job attributes identifies eight employment types, including a class resembling the Standard Employment Relationship (SER) and seven non-standard classes that differ in contractual security, income stability, and access to social protection. Some non-standard types, such as the portfolio class and the entrepreneurial class, combine relatively high autonomy with moderate security, whereas precarious, unstable, informal, unprotected, and self-reliant types display varying combinations of low security, limited earnings, and weak social protection. Women, younger workers, those with lower levels of education, and residents of less-developed regions are more likely to engage in non-standard work, which is often associated with income insecurity and limited social protection. Regression results show that, conditional on observable characteristics, workers in some low-quality non-standard types report significantly worse health than those in the class resembling the SER. By mapping the heterogeneity of non-standard employment and its health implications in a large emerging economy, this study informs debates on the quality of work and provides an empirical basis for more targeted labor protection policies.