Author(s)

ChenXiao Lin, ZiYi Yang, QiMeng Hu^*, BoWen Zeng

Affiliation(s)

School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100080, China.

Corresponding Author

QiMeng Hu

ABSTRACT

Daily wage labor is a significant type of informal employment. This study focuses on the labor process of daily wage workers and discusses their perception of labor precarity and their responses to it. The findings reveal that the labor precarity of daily wage workers is prominently reflected in four aspects: labor opportunities, labor conditions, wage payment, and labor security. The coping strategies of daily wage workers in response to labor precarity are categorized into two types: "stabilization actions" and "destabilization actions". "Stabilization actions" include improving self-skills and security, negotiating with employers and withdrawing from the daily wage labor to avoid risks. On the other hand, "destabilization actions" refer to daily wage workers lowering their self-expectations with a "lying flat" mentality and frequently changing jobs to increase their income. The study indicates that neither of these strategies effectively changes their situation under labor precarity. Instead, these strategies bring about an erosion sense of meaning of labor, which is detrimental to individual development. This research expands the understanding of labor precarity within informal employment, particularly in the context of daily wage labor, and showcases the agency of daily wage workers' perceptions and actions. It provides new insights into exploring possible solutions for addressing labor precarity in daily wage labor.

KEYWORDS

Daily Wage Workers; Informal Employment; Labor Precarity; Perception; Actions

CITE THIS PAPER

ChenXiao Lin, ZiYi Yang, QiMeng Hu, BoWen Zeng. The perception and response of daily wage workers to labor precarity. Trends in Social Sciences and Humanities Research. 2024, 2(3): 58-69. DOI: 10.61784/tsshr2011.

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