Speculations on Achieving“Self-employment”in the Internet Economy〔＊〕

Jie Honglan

（Department of Students’Affairs Fujian Jiangxia University，F(xiàn)uzhou Fujian 350108）

Ⅰ.The trend of“self-employment”in Internet economy

1.The trend of platform-based effect in Internet economy

The Internet is the product of combination of science，technology and the emerging market economy.Though its commercial development has been no more than 20years，the speed and scale has been beyond comparison.The rapid development of Internet economy directly promotes the transformation and upgrading of various economic sectors in China，and the platform-based strategy has been widely applied.

Internet economy has changed the traditional unilateral trading pattern and adopted the development pattern of bilateral markets.Baidu has become a leader among all searching engines，Tencent has developed its QQ and Wechat into the largest social platform，and Alibaba e-commerce is gradually replacing the traditional physical stores.In general，current Internet economy makes its core products and services as the platform，and provides accessory services，so as to meet customers’demand of one-stop development.Relying on the Internet，platform-based enterprises have made direct contact between terminal service providers and consumers possible，enormously saving the transaction time，improving the efficiency of the market economy，and greatly cutting the transaction cost.Moreover，the platform-based model of Internet economy has also promoted specialization in the economic field and formed the ecological circle of various market participants.

2.The trend of platform-based employment

Internet has massive data and information resources and a large number of communication tools，which improves the efficiency and greatly cuts the cost of searching information，bargaining，making decisions and supervising，proving possibilities of breaking boundaries of industries and enterprises boundaries，and strengthening the cooperation between different regions，different fields and different enterprises.Internet platform provides great convenience for freelancers to get rid of restrictions of traditional enterprise platforms and to give a full play to their talents，and further facilitates the trend of“platform-based employment”.For example，established in 2010，Meituan website is currently the largest ecommerce company for life services，providing aplatform for businesses and making it possible for consumers to purchase delicacies and movie tickets they like via the cellphone.Meanwhile，Meituan’s catering and delivering service creates a lot of jobs.

3.The trend of self-employment

The emergence of public cloud services provided possibility for small businesses to avoid investment risks，and increasingly advancing computer technology solved the matter of office facilities.Social software like QQ，Wechat and Renren provided good conditions for market promotion，not only reducing the cost of publicity，but also improving the efficiency.Increasingly diverse Internet platforms offered entrepreneurs choices to break barriers and Internet financing methods like P2P，crowdfunding，the third-party payment provided financial support for small businesses.According to the data released by the BCG，by June 2014，the number of entrepreneurs on Taobao platform had been up to 8.4million.In general，easier access to entrepreneurship has enormously stimulated Chinese people’s enthusiasm to start a business and“entrepreneurship”has become a new landscape in China’s job market.

Ⅱ.Analysis on the feasibility of entrepreneurship and employment in Internet economy

1.The advantages of Internet economy

Corner overtaking means that it’s easier for one vehicle to go past another in the corner than on the straight way.According to the theory，Chinese current economic development has entered the adjustment period of the new normal，like in the corner，while there also appears a great opportunity of leaping development.Industries with the feature of“corner overtaking”are mostly of human capital investment，which is characterized by short research and development cycle in technology and products，and Internet economy just conforms to the feature.

2.The change of employment pattern in Internet economy

Internet economy has become the pillar of our national economic development in a short span of 20years.A large number of Internet companies have sprung up like mushrooms，which not only altered the industrial structure and the economic situation in China，but also had a profound impact on the employment situation.

While changing the structure of China’s industry and economy，the Internet economy converted the quality demand in the job market.As a new economic form，the Internet economy generated a whole lot of small and medium-sized Internet companies and created a large number of job opportunities.The extensive application of high and new technology greatly reduced the quantity of human resources in the traditional industries，leading to fewer job opportunities and resulting in the severe employment situation in China.The Internet is an aggregate of scientific and technological achievements，requiring employees to focus on improving their own quality and to actively adapt to changes in Internet economy，including changes in knowledge structure，working habits and working patterns.If employees cannot adapt to these new requirements，they will be certainly be eliminated from the competition.Hence，“structural unemployment”in the job market came into being，especially the “l(fā)abor shortage”issue in Shanghai，Guangzhou and other first-tier cities.The Internet offers new working patterns，such as online recruiting and telecommuting，which requires employees and employment service agencies to make targeted adjustment.What’s more，the convenience of the Internet further weakened the restrictions of time，space and regions，providing a more flexible working style for employees.From the perspective of thinking pattern，the Internet economy requires that employees have to change their ideas and awareness in the new normal and adapt to the new trend.

3.Internet economy establishing platform for entrepreneurship

“Entrepreneurship”has become the most well-known word at the moment，and the post-90sgenerations are gradually becoming the main force of entrepreneurs.In the government work report，Premier Li Keqiang clearly puts forward the concept of“Internet plus”and calls for support for mass entrepreneurship to provoke a wave of entrepreneurship.Compared with the traditional way，the entrepreneurship in Internet economy has become much simpler，which greatly changed the production factors of the enterprise.With a computer or a mobile phone，one can start his own business.The ubiquitous entrepreneurial organizations can offer all-around services like personnel，funds，procedures，business management，and so on.The convenience of Internet lies in linking people in different regions to complete the whole working process.

Mass entrepreneurship has become the normal phenomenon in the era of Internet economy.For instance，originating in the US and becoming popular in China，the WeWor pattern makes it possible to obtain office facilities at a low cost，to precisely find ideal partners，and even to take training courses of business management on the Internet.On the Internet platform，the constitution of entrepreneurs has undergone a big change，no longer confined to the elite groups like before.In brief，Internet has achieved a perfect integration with various sectors of the economy in our country.China is about to usher in a new wave of mass entrepreneurship in the new normal economy.

Ⅲ.Policies and measures to enhance the mutual complementation of employment and entrepreneurship

1.Strengthening policy support to encourage employment with entrepreneurship

Although China’s economy has entered the new normal，it is still confronted with enormous pressure of structural unemployment.According to the 2015government work report，we have to combine entrepreneurship with employment and provide policy support.We need to adhere to promoting mass innovation，support mass entrepreneurship，and bring the amplifying effect of entrepreneurship on employment to full play.

Government agencies have to make positive employment policies and give top priority to employment when resolving people’s livelihood issues.It is essential to streamline administration and delegate power to the lower levels，thus reducing the cost of entrepreneurship and providing job opportunities via innovation and entrepreneurship.Government departments have to focus on issuing relevant fiscal policies，economic policies and laws and regulations in order to provide a good market environment，policy environment and legal environment.In addition，the government should strengthen the support for Internet-based entrepreneurship and innovation and the fiscal support for small and micro-sized enterprises so as to expand the space for scientific and technological innovation，to actively encourage cooperation between innovative market participants and the Internet platform，and to achieve open innovation.The government should make efforts to lower restrictions on the access to entrepreneurship and to reduce barriers by implementing the system of“three in one”and simplifying business ap-plication procedures.It is essential to actively develop entrepreneurial innovation platform based on the Internet and to provide technical guidance and policy support for entrepreneurs.The government should deepen the tax reform，provide tax preferences for entrepreneurship，broaden the financing channels，adjust loan policies of financial institutions，and actively promote the construction of credit system.

2.Establishing market-oriented talent system

Internet economy is based on new technology and computer network，setting higher standards and requirements for the quality of talents.E-commerce has become the main form of the Internet economy，which presents higher demand for highly-component talents in e-commerce.From the perspective of talent cultivation，the focus must be put on constructing the market-oriented system which values the competence of talents.On the one hand，the government needs to make relevant policies on promoting the reform of higher education system to explore a new way to connect higher education with social practice.On the other hand，it is necessary to encourage enterprises to strengthen communication and collaboration with universities and to promote the cooperation between human resource service agencies，traditional industries，Internet companies，and associations so as to establish a talent system including the government，enterprises and individuals.The government should encourage enterprises to strengthen personnel training，provide relevant guidance for the enterprise，and build a market-oriented modern talent system，thereby speeding up the development of self-employment in the Internet economy.

3.Strengthening the construction of public service and social security system

Welfare economics is the earliest theory on social security in western society.When it comes to perfect social construction，the theory emphasizes the public’s interests and the establishment of pension system as well as social assistance system.The focus of resolving the employment problem in the socialist economy of the new normal must be unemployment assistance.According the 2015government work report，the government must focus on improving the public service system and social security system，thus providing guarantee for entrepreneurship and employment.

The government should also to strengthen the construction of infrastructures that are beneficial to entrepreneurship，like industrial park construction and transportation construction.Local governments should invest more to improve local investment environment and attract investment with preferential tax policies，fiscal policies and economic policies in order to form industrial clusters and to provide a better public service system for mass entrepreneurship.The government should improve social security system，adhere to the people-oriented scientific outlook，and continuously increase investment in people’s livelihood.It should offer policy guidance and support to college graduates，unify insurance standards in urban and rural areas，raise pension benefits for retired enterprise employees，establish provisional social assistance system，provide unemployment assistance，and expand the coverage of unemployment insurance，hence dispelling worries for graduates and migrant workers.

4.Accelerating the construction of entrepreneurship and innovation mechanism

“Mass entrepreneurship and innovation”is not only the powerful engine driven by Internet economy to achieve China’s rapid economic development，but also the adaptation to the requirements of the economic new normal.In order to effectively implement the“Internet plus”concept of the State Council，the government need to strengthen the construction of entrepreneurship and innovation mechanism to promote the development of self-employment.

The government should focus on strengthening the reform of the administrative system，cancel the non-licensing approval that hinders entrepreneurship and innovation，vigorously improve the market access system，strengthen market supervision，and establish a standardized system.To reduce the restrictions for innovative enterprises，it is essential to adjust the standards and carry out a scientific assessment.The government should innovate the supervision mode of the Internet economy，establish the supervision mechanism with the core of the social credit system，and realize the comprehensive supervision of different industries and regions.It is also essential to promote the rule of law，to protect all kinds of intellectual property rights，and to improve the incentive system of entrepreneurship and innovation.The specific support programs for entrepreneurship and innovation projects should vary according to the subjects and the natures.

Translated by Huang Qiuyue

Notes：

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