Livestreaming biz enhances Kuaishou's role in job market

Chinese short-video platform Kuaishou had created 43.2 million jobs and given rise to 174 new occupations by the end of 2024, as it has lowered employment thresholds and brought about an increase in inclusive and large-scale employment, as well as entrepreneurial opportunities, a report said.

Industry experts said the platform has provided relatively equal opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses, ordinary creators and skilled talent to earn incomes, and contributed to the formulation of relevant professional standards and the implementation of vocational training related to new occupations.

Kuaishou has offered about 23 million direct employment opportunities for short-video creators and livestreaming hosts, who directly gained income through the platform last year, according to a report released by the China Institute for Employment and Welfare Studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing.

The number of content creators with a monthly income of more than 10,000 yuan ($1,392.4) on the Kuaishou platform has increased by 14 percent compared with the same period of 2023.

The platform has also generated 20.2 million indirect job opportunities driven by the content ecosystem, such as multichannel network or MCN agencies, livestreaming agents and service providers, as well as livestreaming rooms and the upstream and downstream industrial chains of livestreaming e-commerce, the report said.

It noted that if the gross merchandise value or GMV from livestreaming e-commerce increases by 100 million yuan, approximately 1,200 new jobs will be created. The livestreaming e-commerce ecosystem of Kuaishou has brought about 14.47 million job opportunities.

The report highlighted that short-video and livestreaming platforms have effectively addressed the employment issues of key groups, such as migrant workers, university graduates, people with disabilities and low-income groups, through diversified employment-supportive programs and innovative models.

These platforms also provide these groups with equal employment opportunities and career development paths through livestreaming recruitment, skills training, and entrepreneurship support, significantly promoting the inclusive growth of the social economy.

A livestreaming room can generate more than 30 new occupations and create a large number of jobs in the industrial chains, according to the research institute of the China International Electronic Commerce Center.

These new professions include livestreaming hosts, video analysts, video editors and cost assessors, while new jobs related to the operation of livestreaming rooms include the selection of products, video script planning, content production and data traffic allocation.

Kuaishou said in the next three years, it will cultivate 10 million skilled talent engaged in new occupations such as livestreaming anchors, internet marketing specialists, and AI application specialists through online and offline vocational skills training.

Wen Miao, who graduated from the Northeast Agricultural University, is in charge of "adjusting" the atmosphere in a livestreaming room. In this new occupation that has never been heard of in the traditional job market, Wen not only needs to liven up the atmosphere in the livestreaming room, but also has to debug the equipment, maintain order and analyze data.

In a mere six months, she has sold more than 10,000 agricultural products, and the revenue from each livestreaming session has risen to thousands of yuan.

In addition, recruitment through livestreaming and short-video platforms has become a new way for blue-collar workers to apply for jobs.

Kuaishou launched its digitalized recruitment business Kuaipin in 2022, which has attracted more than 250 million blue-collar workers each month to find new jobs, with over 5 million livestreaming recruitment sessions held. Over 240,000 enterprises have offered job positions through the platform, greatly improving recruitment efficiency.

"As a typical representative of the digital economy, the rapid development of short-video platforms like Kuaishou not only plays a significant role in promoting economic growth but also has a profound impact on employment through its diverse business forms," said Zhou Guangsu, deputy director of the China Institute for Employment and Welfare Studies at Renmin University of China.

Zhou added that through livestreaming e-commerce, these platforms have given rise to new employment opportunities, and provided more job positions and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people.

Li Yongjian, a researcher at the National Academy of Economic Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said livestreaming e-commerce is of great significance to bolstering the growth of consumption, expanding employment and narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents, serving as an important force driving China's high-quality economic development.