Rights Protection Dilemmas of Platform Gig Workers from the Perspective of Urban-Rural Mobility: The Case of Food Delivery Riders in China

Food-delivery platforms have become a major source of employment for China's rural migrants, but the apparent flexibility of delivery work often conceals asymmetrical control and weak protection. Existing research on the rights of food delivery riders has largely focused on employment status, algorithms, and social security, with relatively little attention paid to the role of urban-rural mobility in shaping labour rights. This paper employs a qualitative review and comparative analysis, drawing on empirical data from the Guangzhou region and utilizing the frameworks of platform capitalism, the labour process theory, and the urban-rural dual labour market to examine how urban-rural mobility exacerbates the challenges in protecting the rights and interests of food delivery riders. It finds that riders' problems are connected rather than separate: unclear employment status weakens wage claims, algorithmic management extends working time, fragmented social insurance transfers occupational risks to individuals, and hukou-related barriers limit access to urban services. Rural migrants' weak bargaining position and incomplete urban integration deepen each problem. The paper argues that effective governance must combine substantive employment classification, portable social protection, accountable algorithms, accessible collective representation, and residence-based public services.