News: 0179358390

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

China's Future Rests on 200 Million Precarious Workers (economist.com)

(Thursday September 18, 2025 @10:00PM (msmash) from the flexible-until-it-breaks dept.)


China's economy increasingly relies on 200 million "flexible workers" who [1]lack formal employment contracts, pensions and urban residency permits despite comprising 25% of the national workforce and 40% of urban workers. The demographic includes 40 million day-wage factory workers and 84 million platform economy workers performing deliveries and ride-share driving. Factory gig workers average 26 years old, are 80% male, and 75-80% single and childless. These workers face systemic exclusions from urban benefits including healthcare, schooling and property ownership due to lacking urban hukou residency permits.

China's Supreme Court ruled in August that workers can claim compensation from employers denying benefits, though enforcement mechanisms remain unclear. Economic data shows retail sales growth at yearly lows, continuing property price declines, and rising urban unemployment. Analysts project GDP growth potentially falling to 3% in the third quarter. Manufacturing hubs report increasing numbers of young workers sleeping in parks and under overpasses between temporary jobs.



[1] https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/09/18/chinas-future-rests-on-200m-precarious-workers


200 million angry, single disaffected young men? (Score:3)

by rsilvergun ( 571051 )

I see absolutely no way that could be a problem.

Jokes aside modern techno feudalism can probably contain them. At least as long as they mostly have food.

The problem is factory automation has gotten so cheap that we are at the point where borderline slave labor probably isn't worth the cost.

From what I can tell the Chinese government has been ordering companies to hold off on factory automation for just that reason but I think they're hitting the point where it's getting harder to do that.

One thing I know for sure if you get enough young men without wives and jobs it's only a matter of time before you have a world war. The only problem with that is we have nukes now. I mean the only problem besides the horrific Carnage and all that but that's never stopped Us in the past.

Re: (Score:2)

by evanh ( 627108 )

The men get the cushy jobs.

More likely they are all women and immigrants. None of which are inclined to moan.

It's the same the world over.

America's food security depends on immigrant labor (Score:2)

by Required Snark ( 1702878 )

Don't believe me? Just go to a market and look at the food prices.

Between the lack of people to do hard physical farm labor and irrational tariffs US food security is also "precarious".

FAFO

Re: (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

But trump brought down grocery prices on day one of his term.

Day 2 he spent asking people to try and find out what "groceries" were.

Turns out he invented the word.

Or at least that's what he was told... and believed...

Re: (Score:2)

by Gavino ( 560149 )

"America's food security depends on immigrant labor"

No it doesn't. It depends on a free and open market for labor.

If there are no immigrants working for slave-like wages, food companies will have to do a couple of things. (1) Innovate with technology to rely on less labor. This is called a productivity gain. And (2) start paying people a decent/humane wage, and this will attract more workers to this line of work.

"Big Food Inc" need to pull their finger out of their collective buttholes and innovate,

Death is Nature's way of recycling human beings.