“China Calls It ‘Lying Flat.’ Africa Calls It Monday.”

China's youth are discovering gig work is exploitation. Africa's youth already knew.

SATURDAY DEEP DIVE - NOVEMBER 8, 2025

OPENING THOUGHTS

A memoir just became a bestseller in China. It's called 'I Deliver Parcels in Beijing', and it's about a young professional who quit his corporate job to deliver packages on a motorcycle. The book resonates because millions of Chinese youth are doing the same thing, leaving office jobs for gig work, calling it "lying flat," framing it as opting out of a system that demands everything and delivers nothing.

The memoir's central revelation is that: Gig work is not liberation. It's just different exploitation, physically brutal, financially precarious, socially invisible.

Here's what makes this interesting: Africa's youth are also delivering packages on motorcycles. But they never had the corporate jobs to quit.

That difference, between choosing gig work as rebellion and inheriting it as default, reveals something fundamental about where both regions stand economically, what exploitation looks like when dressed up as "flexibility," and why the global conversation about "the future of work" means completely different things depending on which side of industrialization you're on.

China is reckoning with what comes after the corporate ladder breaks. Africa is still trying to build one. But somehow, both continents' youth have ended up in the same place: on motorcycles, working for apps that take 15-40% commission, with no benefits and no alternatives.

Let's decode how we got here.

— Eyitemi

China's youth are quitting corporate jobs to deliver food. Africa's youth never had corporate jobs to quit. Here's why that difference matters, and what it means for the future of work on both continents.

THE GIST:

TWO CONTINENTS, ONE GIG ECONOMY, COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STARTING POINTS

In China, over 20% of youth are unemployed. Many who do have jobs work "996" meaning, 9 AM to 9 PM, six days a week, in soul-crushing corporate roles that promise upward mobility but deliver burnout. Some are walking away. They're delivering food, driving motorcycles, opting out of the race. They call it "lying flat" (tang ping), and it's become a social movement.

A memoir about this phenomenon, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan, just became a bestseller. The book's core message is that: Escaping corporate life for gig work isn't liberating. It's just different exploitation—physically grueling, financially precarious, socially invisible.

Meanwhile, in Africa:

• South Africa has a 62.4% youth unemployment (ages 15-24) as of Q1 2025
• Nigeria has an official rate of 6.5% (after controversial methodology change); real rate estimated at 40%+
• Kenya has over 35% youth unemployment, with 1.5 million working in the boda boda (okada) industry
• Ghana: Over 80% of employment is in the informal sector

Africa's youth aren't "lying flat." They're standing, on motorcycles, at market stalls, in delivery queues because there's nowhere else to stand. The gig economy isn't a philosophical choice. It's survival infrastructure.

The comparison matters because it reveals two futures colliding: China is rethinking what "success" means after industrialization. Africa is still trying to get there.

THE DIFFERENCE: CHOICE VS. NECESSITY

1. CHINA'S STORY:

Chinese youth grew up in an era of rapid economic growth. Their parents told them: Get educated, get a corporate job, climb the ladder. But the ladder broke. Youth unemployment hit 20%+. Those who did get corporate jobs found themselves working '996' schedules for stagnant wages, with no hope of affording homes in cities where property prices have skyrocketed.

So some opted out. They took gig work, delivering food for Meituan or Ele.me, driving for Didi, not because gig work is good, but because corporate work had become unbearable. Bloomberg's review of I Deliver Parcels in Beijing makes it clear: The memoir shows that gig work is brutal. Long hours, low pay, physical danger, zero security. But at least it's not an office.

This is a post-industrial crisis. A society wrestling with what happens when the promise of upward mobility through corporate work collapses.

2. AFRICA'S REALITY

Africa never had enough corporate jobs to promise upward mobility in the first place.

In South Africa, 62.4% of youth aged 15-24 are unemployed. Among those "employed," most are in informal work, street vending, piece work, gig platforms. In Nigeria, the government recently changed how it calculates unemployment, dropping the official rate from 53.4% (2020) to 6.5% (2024), a figure experts say is wildly disconnected from reality on the ground.

Kenya has 2.5 million registered motorcycles, with 1.8 million actively in use. The boda boda (motorcycle taxi) sector generates KES 660 billion ($4.5 billion) annually and employs over 1.5 million young people. These aren't people who quit corporate jobs. These are people who never got them.

When Uber, Bolt, SafeBoda, and Gokada entered African markets, they didn't disrupt stable employment. They digitized existing informal work, work that was already precarious, underpaid, and dangerous. The apps just added GPS tracking and commission fees.

This is a pre-industrial reality. A continent where gig work isn't an opt-out, it's the only option.

THE SIMILARITY: EXPLOITATION WEARS MANY FACES

Despite the different starting points, the endpoint looks disturbingly similar: Low pay. Long hours. No benefits. Physical danger. Algorithmic control.

WHAT GIG WORKERS FACE IN CHINA:

• 996 work culture replaced by 24/7 availability for delivery apps
• Commission fees cutting into already-thin margins
• Constant pressure to accept rides to maintain ratings
• Physical exhaustion (motorcycle accidents, repetitive strain)
• Social invisibility (gig workers seen as "unskilled")

WHAT GIG WORKERS FACE IN AFRICA:

Nigeria (Lagos):

• Okada (motorcycle taxi) ban in major areas (February 2020) destroyed livelihoods overnight
• Gokada, MAX.ng, ORide had to pivot from ride-hailing to delivery
• Uber takes 25-30% commission; Bolt takes 25%; inDrive takes 10% but forces low fares
• Lagos drivers spend ₦180,000/week on fuel alone, with ₦30,000 for servicing
• One driver to TechCabal: "I earned ₦3 million over three months. After fuel, maintenance, and Bolt's ₦900,000 commission, I kept almost nothing."

Kenya:

• Boda boda riders face constant safety risks (accidents are leading cause of injury)
• Uber and Bolt commissions range from 15-25%
• SafeBoda requires training but pays similar rates
• Riders buy their own safety equipment (helmets, reflective gear)
• No health insurance, no accident coverage unless privately purchased

South Africa:

• 135,000 gig workers (1% of employed population)
• Uber takes up to 42% commission on some rides
• One driver to GroundUp: "I made R4,000 recently. Uber took 42%, leaving R2,320. Fuel cost R1,700. Where's my profit?"
• Drivers face violence, must pay for safety cameras themselves
• No protection from arbitrary deactivation

Egypt:

• Ride-hailing market worth $1.84 billion (2024)
• Uber, Careem (owned by Uber), Bolt, inDrive competing
• Similar commission structures (15-25%)
• Informal workers dominate; little regulation

Morocco:

• Careem, Uber expanding rapidly
• Gig economy growing at 17.2% CAGR
• Workers face same global platform dynamics

The pattern is clear: Whether you're in Beijing or Lagos, Cape Town or Cairo, gig platforms extract value from workers who have no leverage, no benefits, and no alternatives.

THE ORGANIZING: STRIKES, UNIONS, AND WHY THEY'RE STRUGGLING

Here's where it gets interesting: African gig workers are organizing. But they're hitting walls that Chinese workers also face.

NIGERIA:

• Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transporters of Nigeria (AUATON) organized strikes in 2023, 2024, and May 2025
• Demands: Higher pay, lower commissions, safety protections, fair deactivation processes
• Results: Minimal. Platforms ignore or make temporary concessions, then revert

SOUTH AFRICA:

• National E-hailing Federation of South Africa (NEFSA) announced first-ever nationwide strike (July 2025)
• Western Cape E-Hailing Association held multiple protests in 2024
• Demands: Minimum rate of R13.50/km (vs. current R5-10), commission caps, safety features, reinstatement of deactivated drivers
• Results: Fragmented. Provincial strikes haven't forced platform concessions

KENYA:

• Multiple boda boda strikes in 2024-2025 over fuel costs, commissions, safety
• Less formal organization than Nigeria/South Africa
• Results: Limited

Why organizing fails:

1. No employment relationship: Gig workers are classified as "independent contractors," so labour laws don't apply
2. Algorithmic retaliation: Platforms can deactivate strikers with no recourse
3. Desperation: Workers can't afford extended strikes when bills are due tomorrow
4. Fragmentation: Unions are city-level or province-level, not national or continental
5. Platform power: Uber, Bolt operate globally, meanwhile their workers organize locally

A 2023 Rest of World investigation found that African gig unions "have failed to replicate the success of counterparts in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand, and Germany."

THE FUTURE: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

FOR CHINA:

China's "lying flat" movement is a cultural reckoning. Young people are rejecting the promise that endless work leads to prosperity. But as I Deliver Parcels in Beijing shows, gig work isn't the escape, it's just a different cage.

The question for China: Can a post-industrial society create meaning and dignity in work beyond corporate ladders? Or will gig work become permanent underclass employment?

FOR AFRICA:

Africa faces a more urgent crisis. By 2050, one in three young people globally will be African. The continent needs 72.6 million new jobs by 2050 just to absorb youth entering the workforce. Right now, the gig economy is absorbing them, but into precarious, exploitative work with no path to stability.

The question for Africa: Will digital platforms create better conditions than informal work did? Or will they just digitize the same extraction?

Early signs aren't promising:

• Platforms take 15-42% commission
• Workers have no benefits, no security, no recourse
• Governments aren't regulating effectively
• Organizing is weak and fragmented

But there are openings:

• Electric mobility: Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda seeing electric boda bodas (lower fuel costs)
• Platform competition: More platforms equals potential for better terms (though race-to-bottom pricing hurts drivers)
• Youth organizing: #EndSARS showed Nigerian youth can mobilize at scale; gig worker movements could tap that energy
• Policy windows: Some governments (Egypt, South Africa) exploring regulation

THE BOTTOM LINE

China's youth are learning that escaping corporate work doesn't mean escaping exploitation. Africa's youth already knew that—they've been living it.

The difference is philosophical vs. material. China is having a cultural crisis about the meaning of work. Africa is having a material crisis about the availability of work.

But the endpoint is converging: Millions of young people are on motorcycles, delivering food and packages, working for platforms that take 15-40% of their earnings, with no benefits, no security, and no alternative.

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing became a bestseller because it told Chinese readers an uncomfortable truth: You can't opt out of a system by choosing a different form of exploitation within that same system.

African workers could have told them that. We've been delivering parcels, on okadas, boda bodas, in danfos, on foot, for decades. The apps didn't create the gig economy here. They just put it on a screen and took a cut.

The question now isn't whether gig work is "good" or "bad." It's whether workers, in China, in Africa, everywhere, can organize enough leverage to make it livable. Because right now, whether you chose it or it's your only option, the math doesn't work.

In 2021, Africa waited in line for vaccines. In 2025, Africa's youth are waiting in line for jobs that don't exist, taking gig work that doesn't pay enough, and being told it's "flexibility."

China's youth are doing the same thing. They're just calling it a movement.

But a movement needs demands. And demands need power. And power, for gig workers in Lagos, Cape Town, Beijing, or anywhere, remains the one thing platforms make sure they never have.

💬 READ. REFLECT. RETHINK.

Here's what the bestselling Chinese memoir I Deliver Parcels in Beijing gets right: You can't escape exploitation by choosing a different flavor of it within the same system.

African gig workers could have told them that. We've been living it.

The difference is that China's "lying flat" movement is a cultural reckoning, a generation realizing that the promise of upward mobility through endless work was a lie. It's a post-industrial crisis of meaning: What do we do when the ladder we were told to climb leads nowhere?

Africa's gig economy is a pre-industrial reality, a continent where the ladder was never built at scale, so most young people are navigating around it entirely. It's not a crisis of meaning. It's a crisis of options.

But the endpoint looks disturbingly similar. Whether you're in Beijing or Lagos, Cape Town or Cairo, if you're young and on a motorcycle working for a platform, the math doesn't add up:

• Long hours. Thin margins. Physical exhaustion.
• Commissions that eat 15-40% of earnings.
• No health insurance. No accident coverage. No recourse when you're deactivated.
• The constant hum of "at least I'm my own boss" masking the reality that an algorithm controls your income.

China is discovering what Africa already knows: The gig economy isn't a solution to unemployment. It's a response to the absence of alternatives. And when platforms become the default infrastructure for work, not a stopgap but the actual system, "flexibility" stops being a feature and starts being a trap.

What's fascinating is the convergence. Two regions on opposite sides of the industrialization timeline, both arriving at the same place: millions of young people working precarious jobs for foreign platforms that extract value while offering nothing resembling security or dignity.

The Chinese memoir became a bestseller because it named something uncomfortable: Opting out of corporate work doesn't mean opting out of exploitation. African workers didn't need a book to learn that. They've been delivering parcels, on okadas, boda bodas, in danfos, on foot, for decades. The apps didn't create the gig economy here. They just digitized it and took a cut.

The question neither region has answered yet is this, "What happens when gig work stops being a transitional phase and becomes permanent infrastructure?"

China's youth are calling it a movement. Africa's youth are calling it Monday.

But whether you frame it as rebellion or resignation, the material reality is the same. Platforms have power. Workers are fragmented. And the "future of work" everyone keeps talking about is already here, it's just precarious, extractive, and unsustainable everywhere.

The Chinese are learning what African gig workers already know: The motorcycle doesn't care why you're riding it. It just knows you're going too fast, for too little, with no one to catch you when you fall.

At least now there's a bestseller about it.

Decode Daily is Africa's smartest read for next-gen professionals. We simplify business, economy, and culture, connecting the dots between what's happening and what it means for you.

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SOURCES & READ MORE 📚

• 1. BLOOMBERG - Chinese Memoir Review
  "China's Gig Economy Shows Why Quitting the Corporate Grind Isn't So Simple"
  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-31/china-s-gig-economy-shows-why-quitting-the-corporate-grind-isn-t-so-simple
  
  2. SOUTH AFRICA STATISTICS (Stats SA)
  "South Africa's Youth in the Labour Market: A Decade in Review"
  https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=18398
  
  3. ECOFIN AGENCY
  "South Africa's Youth Unemployment Hits 62.4% in Q1 2025"
  https://www.ecofinagency.com/news/1505-46818-south-africa-s-youth-unemployment-hits-62-4-in-q12025
  
  4. AFROBAROMETER NIGERIA
  "Dispatch No. 998: Nigerian Youth Want Government Action on Jobs and Cost of Living"
  https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AD998-Nigerian-youth-want-government-action-on-jobs-and-cost-of-living-Afrobarometer-16june25.pdf
  
  5. ILO (INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION)
  "Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024: Sub-Saharan Africa"
  https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2024-08/Sub-Saharan%20Africa%20GET%20Youth%202024_0.pdf
  
  6. TECHCABAL - Lagos Okada Ban
  "BREAKING: ORide, MAX.ng, Gokada and others banned from major areas in Lagos"
  https://techcabal.com/2020/01/27/oride-maxng-gokada-banned-in-lagos/

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