The gig treadmill: Urban-rural exclusion and the overwork of China's couriers

This study investigates how spatially reproduced urban–rural exclusion within Chinese megacities drives structural overwork among migrant gig workers—and how targeted social-security access can dismantle these exclusionary dynamics. Employing a mixed-methods design—a large-scale survey of daily working hours and insurance coverage, over 40 in-depth interviews, and a choice-based conjoint experiment—we find that basic social insurance reduces weekly overwork by an average of 5.6 h, with commercial-insurance supplements yielding an additional 1.2 h of relief. Crucially, insurance preferences vary significantly by gender, health status, traffic-accident history, and contract formality, underscoring the need for subgroup-tailored benefit designs. Theoretically, we embed urban–rural exclusion within a spatial-justice framework, extending welfare-regime analyses by showing how territorially bounded eligibility criteria perpetuate “insider” versus “outsider” divisions inside city boundaries. Methodologically, our integration of survey and conjoint methods provides a replicable blueprint for measuring spatially contingent policy demands. Policy recommendations include mandating universal social-insurance enrollment with formal contracts, implementing portable benefit schemes, and requiring platforms to fund contributions directly. Our findings offer empirically grounded strategies for inclusive gig-economy labor protection, with broad relevance for rapidly urbanizing regions worldwide. • Uses a spatial-justice lens to show urban–rural exclusion inside cities drives gig workers’ overwork. • Employs a validated mixed-methods design to yield robust insights on insurance and labor supply. • Basic social insurance cuts weekly overwork by 5.6 hours, commercial add-ons reduce a further 1.2 hours. • Reveals preference heterogeneity by gender, health, and contract status. • Actionable blueprint helps planners dismantle exclusion and strengthen gig worker protections.