Our 10 most recent articles.
Government report documents migrant worker struggles in 2020
China’s rural migrant worker population fell by 5.2 million last year as the Covid-19 pandemic and attendant economic slowdown led to job losses and wage stagnation.
05 May 2021
Minimum wage increases stall under the impact of Covid-19 pandemic
For the first time in over a decade, none of China’s provinces and regions announced a minimum wage increase this year, and several regions implemented an official minimum wage freeze.
16 December 2020
Workers in the Global South face unprecedented challenges in 2020
CLB investigates how the Covid-19 pandemic and economic contraction has affected the world’s two largest workforces in China and India.
19 November 2020
Alibaba’s global ambitions present a dilemma for European labour
Chinese tech giant Alibaba is establishing an e-commerce hub at Liège Airport. What does this mean for workers and trade unions in Europe?
10 November 2020
China’s economic recovery shows stark regional differences
The provinces most severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as most major cities in China, all saw negative economic growth in the first half of the year, according to official data on the gross domestic product (GDP) of individual provinces released last week.
05 August 2020
After the pandemic, China’s workers take another hit from widespread flooding
Tens of millions of people have been affected by this year’s devastating floods across central China, mostly in the relatively poorer provinces of Jiangxi and Anhui, as well as around Wuhan, the locus of the Covid-19 outbreak earlier in the year.
23 July 2020
Worker protests on the rise in June as wage arrears proliferate
Worker protests are on the rise again in China as businesses struggle to adapt to the new economic reality created by the Covid-19 pandemic.
15 July 2020
White collar workers face wage cuts and layoffs in wake of pandemic
One in three white collar workers have been laid off since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, according to a new survey by online recruitment agency Zhaopin. In addition, the majority of white-collar workers have experienced pay cuts, salary cancellations or delays in payment.
24 June 2020
As NPC opens in Beijing, China’s workers don’t feel even moderately prosperous
China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) finally opens in Beijing tomorrow after a two-month delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
21 May 2020
China’s official youth unemployment rate hits 13.8 percent in April
China’s urban unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percent in April to stand at 6.0 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced today. It was the third month in a row that the rate has stayed around six percent after jumping sharply in February.
15 May 2020