Catherwood LibraryILR School

After more than two decades of breakneck growth, a slowing Chinese economy is leading to strikes and labor protests across the country. Worried about their prospects in a gloomy job market, workers are fighting back as some businesses are withholding wages and benefits, laying off staff or shutting down altogether. More than 2,700 strikes and protests were recorded last year by China Labor Bulletin, a labor rights group based in Hong Kong, more than double the number in 2014, with the manufacturing and mining industries most affected. Dissatisfaction is intensifying, with more than 500 protests in January of this year alone. In an approach to continue to portray itself as a socialist guardian of worker’s rights, the government has pressured businesses to settle disputes and make billions of dollars available for welfare payments and retraining programs for the workers.