China’s migrant workers worried by dwindling jobs, low pay, as US trade war impact runs deep
- China has some 280 million migrant workers, but factories are downsizing, cutting overtime and even relocating overseas
- Mood of factory workers underlines outlook from purchasing managers' index and export order as Trump administration tariffs hit orders
On a normal Wednesday afternoon, a migrant worker in his mid-20s from Hubei province is deciding which shirt to buy from a budget shop next to a large electronics factories in Dongguan, one of China’s most prosperous manufacturing cities located in the southern province of Guangdong.
Li Zhong opts for a white shirt costing 79 yuan (US$11.5), changing out of the brown T-shirt he arrived in at the shop, with the hope that his new purchase will make him stand out from the crowd during his interview for the production line job on offer at the Hong Kong-invested factory.
“I think I look smarter and will make a good impression on the interviewer. This is a large foreign-funded factory with good room and board benefits as well as proper social insurance and housing payments. I heard that the monthly salary could be 4,500 yuan (US$655) [per month] or more, and the overtime hours are a stable two to three hours a day. Now, it is not easy to find a factory job with such conditions.” Li said.
Li’s situation is echoed by other migrant workers in Dongguan, with working conditions in China’s export industries deteriorating due to the trade war with the United States.
The well-being of workers like Li is a cause for concern for China’s decision makers and the risks of mass unemployment are at the top of the agenda for Beijing as there are growing signs of job market stress in places and sectors affected by the trade war with the United States. China’s official jobless data paints a stable employment picture, although it generally does not include migrant workers.