Anotace:
The digital economy has increased the competitiveness of economies worldwide, accelerated dramatic changes in employment trends, and driven the rapid growth of flexible employment in China. We use micro survey data from the China General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2018 to empirically analyze the income competitiveness differences under different flexible employment modes in the context of the digital economy as well as the differences in income competitiveness between genders, and deconstruct the differences. It is found that the development of digital economy improves income competitiveness in the flexible employment market. The income competitiveness of the digital flexibly employed is higher than that of the traditionally flexibly employed. And in terms of gender differences, females benefit more from digital flexible employment modes. Moreover, the self-employed have higher income competitiveness than the regularly employed, especially the digital flexible selfemployed. Finally, in the context of the rapid development of the digital economy, there is a two-tier structure in the flexible employment labor market, and the wage penalty suffered by flexible workers at the bottom of the wage distribution is greater, which increases the internal income gap of flexible workers and exacerbates the income polarization. Therefore, public policies should focus on enhancing the employment competitiveness of flexible employment workers in the low-income quantile.