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Meituan's 7.45 million riders' income was exposed: the average monthly income of 7,354 yuan in first-tier cities, "80,000 graduate students and 300,000 undergraduates delivered takeaways" is fake

How much can a rider earn on average month? What is the number of high-frequency riders on the Meituan platform? What is the distribution of riders' educational qualifications?

During the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday just past, Meituan CEO Wang Xing sent an all-staff letter to all employees, mentioning that about 7.45 million riders earned income on the Meituan platform last year, and received more than 80 billion yuan in compensation, which also sparked discussions in the industry about the survival and income of food delivery riders.

On September 19, Meituan Research Institute disclosed the latest data, further explaining the structure and income of riders on the platform. According to the data obtained by the reporter of "Daily Economic News", Meituan's 7.45 million riders with orders and income, 11% of the total number of riders who received orders for more than 260 days a year, about 819,500 people, and about 48% of the riders with orders and income received orders for less than 30 days a year.

At the same time, the data also discloses that if a rider runs orders for more than 260 days a year and receives orders for more than 6 hours a day, his income is competitive in the local area. Taking June 2024 as an example, if a rider runs an order in a first-tier city, the monthly income can reach more than 7,354 yuan, and if he is in a third-tier city and below, the monthly income can reach more than 5,556 yuan.

As for the data spread on the Internet, such as "Meituan has 7.45 million income riders, 80,000 graduate students 1%, 300,000 undergraduate students 4%, and a total of 51 million crowdsourcing riders", Meituan Research Institute said that the data of undergraduate and graduate students can only be determined by submitting their academic certificates and degree certificates to the academic information network.

High-frequency riders' monthly earnings at a glance:

More than 7,354 yuan in first-tier cities

The reporter of "Daily Economic News" learned that Meituan riders include ordinary crowdsourcing, Lerun and other types, the former has no requirements for the number of days of running orders, and the working hours are more free, while the latter has requirements for the number of days of running orders, and the average income will be higher.

According to data from the Meituan Research Institute, in June 2024, among high-frequency riders, the income of crowdsourcing and Lepao riders in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen was 7,354 yuan and 11,014 yuan respectively, while the average income in third-tier and below cities was 5,556 yuan and 7,197 yuan respectively, which basically represents the average income range of high-frequency riders.

According to the data, the peak time of the day is between 11:00-13:00 and 17:00-20:00, and there are a large number of part-time riders, mainly using the two peaks of lunch and evening to undertake delivery tasks, and can obtain higher income in a short period of time.

Meituan's 7.45 million riders' income was exposed: the average monthly income of 7,354 yuan in first-tier cities, "80,000 graduate students and 300,000 undergraduates delivered takeaways" is fake

Takeaway orders are placed during a short period of time, so riders can earn higher revenues in a short period of time during peak periods. (Survey and Research Report on China's Food Delivery Industry (First Three Quarters of 2019))

Meituan's 7.45 million riders' income was exposed: the average monthly income of 7,354 yuan in first-tier cities, "80,000 graduate students and 300,000 undergraduates delivered takeaways" is fake

In Meituan's business system, food delivery riders play an important role, and in its core local business business, key businesses such as food delivery and Meituan flash sales are inseparable from delivery services.

According to Meituan's 2023 financial report data, Meituan's delivery service revenue in 2023 will be 82.19 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.3%, and the annual instant delivery order volume will be 21.893 billion orders, a year-on-year increase of 23.8%.

In January this year, the "2023 China Blue-Collar Group Employment Research Report" released by the China New Employment Form Research Center pointed out that the average monthly income of delivery workers in 2023 will be 6,803 yuan, exceeding the average of 6,043 yuan for blue-collar groups.

Food delivery riders have become an option for workers to transition into employment

According to the research estimates released by iResearch, the scale of the instant delivery industry will be about 341 billion yuan in 2023 and is expected to exceed 810 billion yuan in 2028.

The reporter combed through Meituan's financial report and found that from 2020 to 2022, the number of riders who received income from Meituan was 4.7 million, 5.27 million and 6.24 million respectively, and by 2023, this data will increase to 7.45 million. According to the "2023 Ele.me Rider Rights Protection Report", in 2023, there will be more than 4 million active riders on the Ele.me platform.

However, it can be seen from the data released by Meituan that in the rider structure, more than eighty percent of the riders are low-frequency or amateur riders, and there are still a few who really rely on full-time food delivery to obtain a stable income, accounting for only 11% of the total number of riders.

In this regard, Meituan Research Institute said that food delivery riders have become the choice of many workers for transitional employment, showing the characteristics of strong transition, which is also consistent with the results of previous surveys from all walks of life. Previously, a scholar survey found that the turnover rate of station riders reached more than 70% within a year, and "looking at other opportunities while doing takeaway" has become the norm in the takeaway industry.

Meituan's 7.45 million riders' income was exposed: the average monthly income of 7,354 yuan in first-tier cities, "80,000 graduate students and 300,000 undergraduates delivered takeaways" is fake

A spokesperson for the Meituan Research Institute revealed that considering the high mobility characteristics of riders and the complex working environment, Meituan has specially hired a total of 214 riders in 77 cities across the country to become Meituan product experience officers, and at present, these riders have put forward more than 750 optimization suggestions, more than 410 have been optimized and launched nationwide, and more than 80 are being optimized and upgraded.

For a long time, as a new flexible employment situation, the protection of the rights and interests of food delivery workers and the issue of income have aroused social concern. Tian Yongpo, director and researcher of the Human Resources Market and Mobility Management Research Office of the Chinese Academy of Human Resources, has publicly stated that the rapid development of new employment forms has become an important force for enhancing economic vitality and absorbing employment. In terms of employment absorption, the results of the Ninth National Survey on the Status of the Workforce show that the number of workers in new forms of employment has reached 84 million, accounting for 21% of the total number of workers.

However, he also mentioned that the development of new forms of employment still faces some problems that need to be regulated urgently. For example, the employment chain is long, it is difficult to identify the actual employing entity, and it is difficult for workers to protect their rights after employment disputes. At the same time, the ambiguity of the main body of employment also increases the difficulty of integrating employees in new forms of employment into the existing social security system.

In this regard, Tian Yongpo put forward suggestions including standardizing the labor and employment relationship between platform enterprises and employees in new forms of employment, strengthening the protection of the rights and interests of workers in new forms of employment, and vigorously carrying out vocational skills training in new forms of employment.

Original title: Meituan's 7.45 million riders' income is exposed: the average monthly income of first-tier cities is 7,354 yuan, and nearly half of the riders receive orders for less than 30 days a year! "80,000 graduate students and 300,000 undergraduates deliver takeaways" is fake

Source: Daily Economic News reporter |

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