Strikes in China’s manufacturing sector are rising amid a shaky domestic economic recovery and a global economy still weighed down by the war in Ukraine and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chinese manufacturers in industries from electronics to garment manufacturing have faced lower earnings on the back of weaker global consumer demand this year. Many factories have closed or mothballed production without paying their staff severance pay or other benefits. Still others are experiencing difficulties paying meeting their regular payroll obligations. Chinese websites and social media accounts have posted complaints of layoffs and stagnant or falling wages, and examples of job advertisements using discriminatory language or listing illegal requirements.
As a result, the first half of 2023 has seen an increasing number of small-scale incidents of worker unrest across China’s coastal industrial hubs in the Pearl River and Yangtze River Deltas, where China’s work force of rural migrant laborers is concentrated. Hong Kong-based rights group China Labor Bulletin recorded 140 strikes across China from January-May 2023, the highest number since the same period in 2016, when 313 strikes were reported.
China Labour Bulletin collects its own data on strikes
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