As the first batch of Meituan rider pension insurance subsidies began arriving in rider accounts nationwide on December 8, 2025, a pivotal "ice-breaking initiative" concerning the social security of millions of flexible workers officially entered a substantive phase.
The Meituan rider pension insurance subsidy project completed a leap from local exploration to nationwide implementation within eight months, starting with pilot programs in April 2025, expanding to multiple regions by July, and achieving full national coverage by November. This has initially established a multi-level welfare and security network covering millions of riders. In the future, Meituan will continue to explore and improve comprehensive welfare protections for riders, aiming to set an example for platform companies in fulfilling social responsibilities and building harmonious labor relations.
"I can't believe it's really here!" In early December 2025, a Beijing-based Meituan rider named Xiao Li discovered a pension insurance subsidy deposited into his rider app account. Almost simultaneously, riders in multiple cities across the country, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Yulin, and Oroqen Autonomous Banner, received the same good news. This marked the official disbursement of the first subsidies following the program's nationwide rollout, fulfilling Meituan's promise of "national coverage within the year."
Rewinding to April 3, 2025, under the guidance of local human resources and social security departments, Meituan announced the launch of a rider pension insurance pilot in Quanzhou and Nantong. The initiative explored a pension scheme suitable for new forms of employment, featuring no restrictions on employment type and support for cross-regional contributions. As long as income requirements were met, the platform would subsidize 50% of the insurance premium based on the minimum contribution base of the rider's social security registration location. The first pilot riders received their subsidies on May 8. After verifying the scheme's feasibility, Meituan rapidly expanded coverage: five cities, including Chengdu, Wuhan, and Shenzhen, were added starting in July. On July 17, Meituan announced plans to extend the pension subsidies nationwide within the year, expecting to cover over a million delivery riders, and subsequently opened more than 600 offline social security consultation service windows at rider hubs and stations in dozens of cities including Nanjing, Jinzhou, and Xiangtan.
This promise has now become a reality. Through a "pilot-verification-expansion" mechanism and efficient, practical measures, Meituan has delivered social security benefits to every eligible rider. This "social security relay," carrying the warmth of public welfare, has not only ended the predicament of "millions of riders without social security" but also signals to society the platform's respect and care for workers' rights.
The exploration process for rider social security was not easy, particularly in establishing a new protection mechanism adapted to this new employment group, which required careful consideration and precise handling based on their genuine needs and practical difficulties.
Fang Lianquan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Center for Chinese Modernization Studies and Secretary-General of the World Social Security Research Center, pointed out that the occupational characteristics of riders—unstable working hours, fluctuating income, many working part-time short-term, lacking stable expectations, or having heavy family burdens—"all affect their willingness to maintain continuous insurance coverage."
In 2021, a guideline jointly issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and seven other departments introduced the concept of "incomplete labor relations," providing a policy basis for exploring rider social security solutions.
Zhuang Jiazhi, an associate professor at the School of Sociology and Psychology at the Central University of Finance and Economics, noted that the rider social security subsidy is not about forcibly converting riders into "formal employees." Instead, it acknowledges their flexible employment status and, through a model of "enterprise subsidies, government guidance, and individual voluntary participation," brings them into a systematic protection framework.
Simultaneously, Meituan's social security subsidy scheme adheres to three core principles: Fairness—open to all riders without thresholds or tiers; Inclusiveness—covering both full-time and part-time riders, and extending benefits like critical illness care to riders' families, and even riders from other platforms; Scale—focusing on solving the basic security issues for millions of riders, rather than being limited to a small group. This inclusive design has led to high acceptance among riders, effectively boosting participation rates.
"I started receiving the platform's pension insurance subsidy in 2025; I didn't believe it at first until the money actually arrived," said Pang Huihong, a mother who has been a Meituan rider in Guangzhou for seven years. She mentioned that the platform contributes to the Occupational Injury Protection for Workers in New Forms of Employment for riders, and the pension subsidy policy effectively lowers the barrier to entry, giving her more confidence about the future.
Data shows that, under the guidance of the MHRSS, since piloting the occupational injury protection in July 2022, Meituan had cumulatively paid over 23 billion yuan in premiums for 16 million rider instances by October 2025. Its "Critical Illness Care" program had assisted nearly 7,000 riders and their family members by July 2025, distributing over 200 million yuan in care funds. Additional work benefits include meal subsidies, family travel allowances, special care for female riders, rider hubs, and rider stations.
"I plan to stay in this job until I've paid 15 years of social security; I'm more motivated now, and feel more secure about my retirement," said many riders upon receiving the subsidy, calculating savings of at least 6,000 yuan per year. For them, riding is no longer just a "transitional job" but a career for long-term planning.
It can be said that government policy guidance and corporate initiatives have jointly woven a multi-level welfare safety net for riders that is warm, robust, and extensive.
The positive significance of rider social security participation is now becoming apparent. "Effectively addressing issues like injury and pension protection for riders enhances their security and standardizes the labor market. In the long run, this is an essential exploration and necessary path for continuously improving the protection of rights for workers in new forms of employment," noted Zou Yinan, a professor at the Economics Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School.
Statistics indicate that China's flexible workforce exceeds 200 million people, including 84 million in new employment forms like ride-hailing drivers, live-streamers, and domestic helpers. These groups commonly face "de-institutionalization" and flexible work characteristics, along with challenges like low participation willingness and difficulties in transferring benefits across regions.
Meituan's exploration of rider social security, particularly its "low-threshold, wide-coverage" features, undoubtedly provides a strong reference for other flexible employment groups. Hou Pei, a ride-hailing driver in Guangzhou whose social security was interrupted after changing jobs, relies solely on commercial insurance for emergencies. "Seeing the rider subsidy scheme is great; I hope our platform can offer similar protection so we can work with more peace of mind," he said.
Experts suggest that, referencing Meituan's model, groups like ride-hailing drivers and maternity matrons in the platform economy could explore social security schemes linked to work patterns such as "income data" or "service hours." Simultaneously, they recommend optimizing policy flexibility by further studying and adjusting contribution ratios, allowing for floating payments based on industry and income level to lower barriers for low-income groups. Improving the portability and continuity mechanisms is also crucial to solve the problem of benefit衔接 for those working across cities, preventing coverage gaps due to job mobility and ensuring flexible workers can continuously enjoy social security rights for long-term stability.
Zhuang Jiazhi pointed out that such explorations help propel China's social security system from an "employer-centric" model towards a "worker-centric" one, thereby better adapting to the highly flexible and diverse employment landscape of the future.
Recommendations in the "15th Five-Year Plan" propose improving policies for transferring social security records and increasing participation rates among flexible workers, migrant workers, and workers in new forms of employment. In today's booming digital economy, Meituan's exploration offers a positive answer on how to allow new technologies and models to benefit a broader range of workers, how to build harmonious labor relations within new employment forms, and how to balance efficiency with fairness and innovation with regulation.
Looking ahead, Meituan stated that its work on rider protection and welfare will continue steadfastly. The company will keep listening to riders' voices, improving the protection system, and enhancing service quality to ensure riders feel more warmth and respect in their work.
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