The Ethical Dilemmas of Digital Labor and Their Resolution

Entering the era of the digital economy, rapidly evolving digital technologies are transforming people’s forms of labor and lifestyles, giving rise to diverse types of digital labor across different industries. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC emphasized: “Accelerate the establishment of systems and mechanisms to promote the development of the digital economy, and improve the policy system for promoting digital industrialization and industrial digitalization.” [1]1 Karl Marx, *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “We must grasp the direction of digitalization, networking, and intelligence, and promote the digitalization of industries such as manufacturing, services, and agriculture.” [2]2 Xi Jinping, "Speech at the 26th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting," November 18, 2018. Digital integration and transformation across different industries and fields are inseparable from the digitalization of labor. As the core driving force of industrial transformation, digital labor has changed traditional labor processes and models, reshaped production methods, and contributed to the development of new quality productive forces.

进入数字经济时代，日新月异的数字技术正改变着人们的劳动形式和生活方式，催生出不同行业形态各异的数字劳动。党的二十届三中全会强调：“加快构建促进数字经济发展体制机制，完善促进数字产业化和产业数字化政策体系。”习近平总书记指出：“要把握数字化、网络化、智能化方向，推动制造业、服务业、农业等产业数字化。”不同产业、不同领域的数字融合和转向，都离不开劳动的数字化。数字劳动作为产业变革的核心动力，改变了传统的劳动过程和模式，推动了生产方式的重塑，有助于新质生产力的发展。

Digital labor gives rise to new production methods in the era of the digital economy

数字劳动催生了数字经济时代新型生产方式

The connotation of digital labor is very rich. Generally, it refers to the productive and non-productive labor performed by digital workers, driven by their needs for survival and development, who rely on digital technologies and digital tools to produce, process, and handle data as a factor of production. Compared with traditional labor, digital labor is more flexible, virtual, and shareable, bringing many new changes to the development of social production methods.

数字劳动的内涵十分丰富，一般是指数字劳动者出于生存和发展需要，依靠数字技术和数字工具对数据生产要素进行生产、加工、处理的生产性劳动和非生产性劳动。数字劳动与传统劳动相比，更具灵活性、虚拟性和共享性，为社会生产方式的发展带来许多新变化。

Digital labor, empowered by digital technologies, has greatly enhanced workers’ efficiency levels, the intelligence level of labor tools, and the breadth and depth of labor objects, achieving a huge leap in the level of productive forces. The scope of digital workers is broad; all users who are active on digital network platforms for the purpose of meeting people’s needs for survival and development can be called digital workers. Digital workers use terminal devices such as mobile phones and computers, along with various platform software, as their labor tools to extract, analyze, process, and output data information—the object of labor—thereby achieving the purpose of labor in this process. Digital labor, through the application of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, and blockchain, is also constantly changing the modes of collaboration between people in practice. This not only enhances workers’ ability to meet their own needs for survival and development but also drives the digitalization process of the entire society’s labor transformation. The *China Digital Economy Development Research Report (2023)* shows that in 2022, the scale of China’s digital economy reached 50.2 trillion yuan, accounting for as high as 41.5% of GDP. [3]3 Karl Marx, *Wage Labour and Capital*. This set of data fully demonstrates the important role of digital labor in raising the level of productive forces and creating economic output.

以数字技术赋能的数字劳动让劳动者的效率水平、劳动工具的智能化水平、劳动对象的广度深度等得到了极大提升，实现了生产力水平的巨大跃升。数字劳动者的范围较广，所有以满足人们生存发展需要为目的、活跃在数字网络平台上的用户都可以称之为数字劳动者。数字劳动者将手机、电脑等终端设备和各种平台软件作为自己的劳动工具，对数据信息这种劳动对象进行提取、分析、加工和输出，在这个过程中实现劳动的目的。数字劳动还通过对人工智能、云计算、大数据、物联网和区块链等数字技术的应用，在实践中不断改变着人与人之间的协作方式。这不仅提高了劳动者满足自身生存发展需求的能力，也推动着整个社会劳动变迁的数字化进程。《中国数字经济发展研究报告（2023年）》显示：2022年中国数字经济规模达到50.2万亿元，占GDP的比重高达41.5%。这组数据充分说明了数字劳动在提高生产力水平、创造经济产出方面的重要作用。

The flexibility in the work field, working hours, work methods, and work content brought about by digital labor provides the public with more flexible employment opportunities. The popularization of the internet and the emergence of the platform economy have made digital labor for mass entrepreneurship and innovation possible. [4]4 “Mass entrepreneurship and innovation” (大众创业、万众创新) is a slogan and policy initiative promoted by the Chinese government since 2014 to encourage startup activity and innovation across society. Digital labor in fields such as internet media, creative design, and livestream e-commerce is not limited by work location, time, or content, and is extremely flexible and convenient. This work model not only breaks through geographical restrictions and reduces office costs but also enables the optimal allocation of labor resources on a larger scale, promoting people’s enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and innovation. At the same time, digital labor breaks down restrictions on workers based on gender, age, educational background, and other conditions. Its characteristics, such as low thresholds and fragmented working hours, create conditions for part-time and temporary workers, providing people with opportunities for flexible employment. In Marx’s view, freedom exists within people’s social labor practice, manifesting as a continuous process of pursuit, with ultimate freedom being the comprehensive development of the human being. Digital labor expands people’s behavioral capabilities, granting workers more equal rights and space for free development in labor relations.

数字劳动带来的工作场域、工作时间、工作方式和工作内容的灵活性，为大众提供了更为灵活的就业机会。网络的普及和平台经济的出现使大众创业、万众创新的数字劳动成为可能。互联网传媒、创意设计、直播带货等数字劳动不限工作地点、时间和内容，极具灵活性与便捷性。这种工作模式既突破了地域限制，减少了办公成本，又能使劳动力资源在更大范围得到优化配置，促进了人们创业创新的积极性。与此同时，数字劳动打破了劳动者性别、年龄、学历等条件的限制，低门槛、用工时间碎片化等特点为兼职和临时工创造了条件，为人们提供了灵活就业的机会。在马克思看来，自由就存在于人们的社会劳动实践之中，表现为不断地追求过程，最终的自由是人的全面发展。数字劳动拓展了人的行为能力，使劳动者在劳动关系中得到了更多的平等权利和自由发展空间。

The data elements created and used by digital labor promote the optimal allocation of production factors within enterprises, providing them with more efficient, convenient, and intelligent solutions. Data resources are a key factor of production in the development of the digital economy. The integration and utilization of data elements in the process of digital labor enable enterprises to more accurately understand market trends and demands, thereby formulating more scientific and comprehensive development strategies, minimizing production costs, and optimizing production paths and management models. By effectively allocating resources to high-output sectors and links, the quality and efficiency of labor production can be improved, and service levels enhanced. Digital labor integrates digital technologies and data resources with different industries, promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and giving rise to emerging industries such as intelligent manufacturing, smart healthcare, smart homes, and autonomous driving. The realization of functions such as automated production and intelligent scheduling improves the efficiency of social production, meets the diverse needs of consumers, and creates new growth points for economic development.

数字劳动所创造和使用的数据要素促进了企业生产要素的优化配置，为企业带来了更高效、便捷、智能的解决方案。数据资源是数字经济发展中的关键生产要素。数字劳动过程中对数据要素的整合利用，使企业能够更加准确地了解市场趋势和需求，从而制定更加科学、全面的发展战略，最大限度降低生产成本，优化生产路径和管理模式。通过将资源有效配置到高产出的部门和环节，可以提高劳动生产的质量和效率，改善服务水平。数字劳动将数字技术、数据资源与不同产业相互融合，推动了传统产业转型升级，催生出智能制造、智慧医疗、智能家居、自动驾驶等新兴产业。自动化生产、智能调度等功能的实现，提高了社会的生产效率，满足了消费者多样化的需求，为经济发展创造了新的增长点。

The integration of the fruits of digital labor with the real economy promotes the universal sharing of digital dividends and also advances social fairness and justice. The deep integration of the fruits of digital labor with the development of the real economy in different fields can help enterprises gain a deeper understanding of information regarding market demand and consumer behavior, thereby developing higher-quality products and services and improving people’s quality of life and living standards. Applying the fruits of digital labor to public services enables enterprises and relevant departments to understand the service needs of the people more promptly and accurately, build digital public services for society, optimize service processes and systems, and enhance the targeting and effectiveness of public services. Data circulation in the process of digital labor has given rise to the sharing economy. Through internet platforms, more enterprises and individuals can participate in the construction of the digital economy and the distribution of the fruits of digital labor, sharing the dividends of digital economy development. This not only helps narrow the gap between the rich and the poor but also promotes the balanced development of the entire society.

数字劳动成果与实体经济相融合，促进了数字红利的普惠化，也促进了社会公平正义。数字劳动成果在不同领域与实体经济的发展深度融合，可以帮助企业更加深入地掌握有关市场需求、消费者行为的信息，从而开发出更高品质的产品和服务，提高人们的生活质量和水平。将数字劳动成果应用于公共服务，能够使企业和相关部门更加及时、准确地了解人民群众的服务需求，打造数字化社会的公共服务，优化服务的过程和体系，提高公共服务的针对性和有效性。数字劳动过程中的数据流通催生了共享经济。借助于互联网平台，更多的企业和个人能够参与到数字经济的建设和数字劳动成果的分配中，共享数字经济发展红利。这不仅有助于缩小贫富差距，还能够推动整个社会的均衡发展。

Ethical issues that cannot be ignored arise in the development of digital labor

数字劳动在发展中产生不可忽视的伦理问题

In the labor process, digital workers are continuously instrumentalized, disciplined, and virtualized by digital capital, causing ethical problems of damage to human subjectivity. Every digital worker, as a labor subject, is an end in itself possessing intrinsic value. “The whole character of a species, its species-character, resides in the nature of its life activity, and the species-character of human beings is precisely free, conscious activity.” [5]5 This is a paraphrase of a passage from Karl Marx’s *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*. In the practice of digital labor, the intervention of algorithmic decision-making and platform rules leads to the prevalence of digital Taylorism. [6]6 “Digital Taylorism” refers to the application of Frederick Taylor’s principles of scientific management—breaking down work into standardized, measurable tasks—to digitally mediated labor, often through algorithmic control and monitoring. Digital workers are excessively standardized and normalized in the labor process, and the labor subject is abstracted into a set of data that can be precisely designed and controlled, losing their sense of identification with the value of work. The characteristic of digital capital to reduce costs indefinitely means that digital workers may be replaced at any time by more cost-effective digital production tools. This phenomenon causes digital workers to lose their sense of control and autonomy over their own work, often falling into collective anxiety and involution. [7]7 “Involution” (内卷) is a term widely used in contemporary Chinese social discourse to describe a state of intense, zero-sum competition where individuals or groups expend ever-increasing effort without corresponding gains in value or progress. Digital platforms also implement strict surveillance over digital workers through the continuous optimization of algorithms and the comprehensive integration of data. For example, logistics companies use AI monitoring systems that can track the work efficiency of every employee in the logistics and warehousing department and can automatically generate dismissal instructions without human intervention. The continuous increase in the efficiency and intensity of digital labor infringes upon the subjectivity of workers, gradually turning them into continuously operating, highly efficient “machines.”

数字劳动者在劳动过程中不断被数字资本工具化、规训化和虚拟化，造成了人的主体性受损害的伦理问题。每个数字劳动者作为劳动主体，都是具有内在价值的目的本身。“一个种的全部特性、种的类特性就在于生命活动的性质，而人的类特性恰恰就是自由的自觉的活动。”在数字劳动实践过程中，算法决策和平台规则的干预导致数字泰勒主义盛行，数字劳动者在劳动过程中被过度规范化和标准化，劳动主体被抽象为一组可被精密设计和掌控的数据，失去了对工作价值的认同感。数字资本无限降低成本的特性，导致数字劳动者随时可能被性价比更高的数字生产工具取代。这种现象使数字劳动者失去对自身工作的掌控感和自主性，时常处于群体性焦虑和内卷中。数字平台还会通过算法的不断优化和对数据的全面整合，对数字劳动者实行强力监管。如物流企业利用人工智能监控系统，可以追踪每名物流仓储部门员工的工作效率，并能在没有人员干预的情况下自动生成解雇的指令。数字劳动效率和强度的持续提升，使劳动者主体性受到侵害，逐步变为连续运转、高效运作的“机器”。

The surging tide of digital technologies has given rise to new forms and models of digital labor that are more networked and intelligent, generating ethical problems of damage to the freedom and rights of digital laborers. Freedom usually refers to the ability of individuals to act according to their own will and choices; it grants people the opportunity to explore, innovate, and realize self-worth. Marx pointed out that labor ought to be a conscious process of human self-creation, that is, "the free activity of man." [1]1 Karl Marx, *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*. In the actual process of digital labor, the intelligence of digital technology and the connectivity of the internet have broken through the limitations of time and space, causing the labor sites and hours of digital laborers to extend indefinitely and greatly increasing invisible labor. The tentacles of capital, through digital technology, extend from the digital laborer's workplace into every corner of personal life. The boundaries between work and leisure, labor and entertainment, are increasingly blurred, and the personal space belonging to digital laborers is being continuously compressed. Digital laborers appear to be laboring in a free digital field, yet they are unaware that their freedom is being relentlessly stripped away by capital. Some internet enterprises use algorithmic control to exploit the working hours of digital laborers, forcing workers to accept work information and tasks under strict performance assessment and management, and to "voluntarily and consciously" extend their working hours. Laborers in some food delivery industries and ride-hailing platforms often face problems such as overtime work and no holidays; the instability of working hours imposes invisible pressure and uncertainty on workers.

更迭如潮的数字技术催生出更具网络化、智能性的数字劳动新业态新模式，产生数字劳动者自由权利受损的伦理问题。自由通常指的是个体能够根据自己的意愿和选择行动，它赋予人们探索、创新和实现自我价值的机会。马克思指出，劳动应当是人类有意识的自我创造过程，即“是人的自由活动”。在实际的数字劳动过程中，数字技术的智能化和互联网的连接性突破了时空局限，使得数字劳动者的劳动场所和时间无限延展，隐形劳动大大增加。资本的触角通过数字技术从数字劳动者的工作场所拓展至个人生活的每个角落。工作与闲暇、劳动与娱乐的界限日益模糊，属于数字劳动者的个人空间正在被不断压缩。数字劳动者看似是在一个自由的数字场域进行劳动，却没有意识到自己的自由正被资本无节制地剥夺。一些互联网企业运用算法控制压榨数字劳动者的工作时间，迫使劳动者在严格的绩效考核与管理下接受工作信息和任务，“主动自觉地”延长自己的劳动时间。一些外卖行业、网约车平台上的劳动者常常面临超时工作、无休假等问题，劳动时间的不稳定性给劳动者增添了无形的压力和不确定性。

The deepening of the digital divide and the existence of disparities in computing power lead to unfair distribution of the fruits of digital labor, creating ethical problems that harm social fairness and justice. Both individuals and groups should have equal opportunities to access, learn, and use digital resources, and to share in the fruits of digital labor. However, the current existence of the digital divide and the uneven distribution of computing power cause digital laborers to suffer unfair treatment in terms of information access, employment, and distribution of the fruits of digital labor. The digital divide refers to the gap between different social groups in accessing and using digital technology, influenced by various factors such as economic conditions, educational level, geographic location, and age. The uneven distribution and use of digital resources makes communication and understanding between different labor groups more difficult. Digital giants that enjoy the right to use massive amounts of data, if they use biased and discriminatory algorithms in algorithm design and model evaluation, will also damage the legitimate rights and interests of digital laborers. While extracting the surplus value of digital laborers, they achieve a "winner-takes-all" outcome, forming a data monopoly. Computing power is the capacity for computation and is the core productive force of the digital economy. Currently, some larger digital platform enterprises exploit the opacity and uncertainty in the distribution subjects of digital labor to monopolize the data revenue created by digital labor, further exacerbating income distribution inequality. The level of computing power development varies between regions, leading to a Matthew effect in the transformation of productive forces and economic development supported by computing power, where "the strong become stronger, and the weak find it hard to catch up."

数字鸿沟的加深与算力差异的存在，使得数字劳动成果分配不公，造成损害社会公平正义的伦理问题。无论是个人还是群体，都应当有平等的机会去接触、学习和使用数字资源，共同分享数字劳动成果。而当前数字鸿沟的存在与算力的不均，使得数字劳动者在信息获取、就业、数字劳动成果分配等方面遭受不公平待遇。数字鸿沟是指不同社会群体受经济条件、教育水平、地理位置、年龄等多种因素的影响，在接触和使用数字技术方面显现出的差距。数字资源的分配和使用不均，使不同劳动群体之间的沟通和理解变得更加困难。享有海量数据使用权的数字巨头，如果在算法设计和模型评估中使用具有偏见和歧视性的算法，也会损害数字劳动者的合法权益。在攫取数字劳动者剩余价值的同时，实现“赢者通吃”，形成数据垄断。算力即计算能力，是数字经济发展的核心生产力。当前一些规模较大的数字平台企业利用数字劳动在分配主体上的不透明化和不确定性，独占数字劳动创造的数据收益，进一步加剧收入分配不平等。不同地区之间算力发展水平不均，从而导致以算力为支撑的生产力变革与经济发展呈现出“强者更强、弱者难追”的马太效应。

Exploring Solutions to the Ethical Problems of Digital Labor

探讨数字劳动伦理问题的解决方案

Strengthening the subject status of digital laborers and enhancing their skills training and ethical care is key to improving new quality productive forces. Unlike traditional forms of labor, digital labor requires workers to engage in continuous, lifelong learning, mastering the operational skills of digital tools as well as knowledge such as data analysis, understanding, and application, and constantly improving their digital management capabilities in line with the development of digital technology, in order to adapt to the rapidly changing labor environment. Therefore, it is necessary to value the subject status of digital laborers, by providing training and education in digital skills for relevant industries, strengthening their understanding of the essential nature of digital labor; improving their awareness of rights and interests protection, cultivating their ethical literacy and sense of responsibility in the labor process, striving to transform digital laborers from executors who adapt to the digital labor process into leaders of the development direction of digital labor, and promoting the realization of free labor and comprehensive development for digital laborers in the digital era. Furthermore, it is necessary to enhance mutual assistance between people under the digital economy. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We need to enhance the inclusiveness of the digital economy and bridge the digital divide." [2]2 Xi Jinping, "Speech at the 26th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting," November 18, 2018.

强化数字劳动者主体地位，加强对数字劳动者的技能培训和伦理关怀，这是提升新质生产力的关键。与传统劳动方式不同，数字劳动需要劳动者持续、终身学习，掌握数字工具的操作技能以及数据分析、理解和应用等知识，不断提高与数字技术发展相适应的数字驾驭能力，由此来适应快速变化的劳动环境。因此，要重视数字劳动者的主体地位，通过提供相关行业数字技能的培训和教育，加强数字劳动者对数字劳动本质属性的认识；健全数字劳动者的权益保护意识，培养数字劳动者在劳动过程中的伦理素养和责任担当，努力使数字劳动者从适应数字劳动过程的执行者转变为数字劳动发展方向的引领者，促使数字劳动者实现数字时代的自由劳动和全面发展。此外，还要提升数字经济下人与人之间的互助性。正如习近平总书记指出的：“要提升数字经济包容性，弥合数字鸿沟。”

Achieving the coordinated development of labor relations under digital labor and ensuring the equality of new capital-labor relations. "Social relations of production change and transform with the change and development of the material means of production and productive forces." [3]3 Karl Marx, *Wage Labour and Capital*. With the development of digital productive forces, the factors of production and labor relations in digital labor have undergone new changes. Digital production factors have emerged in new independent forms, making the production intensification level of digital enterprises higher, and the relationship between capital and labor under the digital economy has presented more uncertainties and hidden risk factors. It is necessary to redesign the capital-labor relations under digital labor and the mode of production under new relations of production, improve the supervision and control of digital platforms, and increase the transparency of program design and decision-making processes in digital labor. Furthermore, it is necessary to accelerate the formulation and updating of guiding principles and legal norms related to digital labor, including data protection, fair competition, and social insurance; clarify the rights and obligations of different subjects in the application of digital technology; establish and improve effective regulatory mechanisms and systems; formulate regulatory standards; and simultaneously optimize regulatory plans and measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of digital laborers.

实现数字劳动下劳动关系的协调发展，确保新劳资关系的平等性。“社会生产关系，是随着物质生产资料、生产力的变化规律和发展而变化和改变的。”随着数字生产力的发展，数字劳动中的生产要素、劳动关系发生了新变化。数字生产要素以新的独立形式出现，使数字企业生产集约化水平更高，数字经济下的资本与劳动的关系出现了更多不确定性和隐藏性的风险因子。要对数字劳动下的劳资关系及新的生产关系条件下的生产方式进行新的设计，完善对数字平台的监督和管控，增加数字劳动过程中程序设计和决策过程的透明度等。此外，还要加快制定和更新包括数据保护、公平竞争、社会保险等在内的、与数字劳动相关的指导原则和法律规范，明确数字技术运用过程中不同主体的权利与义务，建立和完善有效的监管机制和体系，制定监管标准；同时有针对性地优化监管方案与措施，保护数字劳动者的合法权益。

Creating a vibrant digital labor environment, building relations of production that adapt to the development of new quality productive forces, and eliminating institutional obstacles. To optimize the digital labor environment and strengthen, optimize, and expand the digital economy, the joint efforts of all members of society are required. It is necessary to popularize the basic knowledge and important significance of digital labor among the public, and enhance the public's enthusiasm and creativity for participating in digital labor. Currently, digital labor has been widely integrated into various industries and fields. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the construction and layout of new-type information infrastructure, increase policy support for upgrading the level of digital labor, improve the welfare guarantee mechanism, and promote the reasonable sharing of digital resources and digital dividends among all digital laborers. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen international policy dialogue and share opportunities for digital development. Promote the exchange and interaction of development achievements in the field of digital labor among countries, complete the reshaping of production modes in an open, inclusive, cooperative, and win-win digital labor environment, assist the development of new quality productive forces, promote the construction of new-type relations of production that adapt to the development of new quality productive forces, and achieve high-quality development of the digital economy.

营造充满活力的数字劳动环境，构建适应新质生产力发展的生产关系，消除制度障碍因素。为了优化数字劳动环境，做强做优做大数字经济，需要社会全体成员的共同努力。要面向社会公众普及数字劳动的基本知识和重要意义，提高公众参与数字劳动的积极性和创造性。目前数字劳动已广泛融合到各行各业和不同领域，因此要加快新型信息化基础设施建设与布局，加大对提升数字劳动层级的政策支持，完善福利保障机制，推动全体数字劳动者对数字资源和数字红利的合理共享。同时，要加强国际政策对话，共享数字发展机遇。促进各国数字劳动领域发展成果的交流与互动，在开放、包容、合作、共赢的数字劳动环境中完成生产方式的重塑，助力新质生产力发展，推动构建适应新质生产力发展的新型生产关系，实现数字经济高质量发展。

Online Editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗