appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Sidney Leng

China’s vast workforce of migrant labourers is shrinking and getting older, mirroring a broader trend that is raising fears about a demographic crisis in the world’s second largest economy.
For the first time since 2008, the number of migrant workers in China fell last year, dropping 5.17 million from 2019 to 285 million, according to survey data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The fall was largely attributed to the coronavirus pandemic, which severely disrupted the economy early in 2020, forcing many workers to stay in their rural hometowns because of transport restrictions.
The construction, hotel and restaurant sectors lost the most migrant workers, parts of the economy that were particularly hard-hit early in the pandemic, the data released on Friday showed.


The number of workers employed in manufacturing also declined, but that was in line with a trend that has seen more people leave jobs in factories to take up positions in the service sector in recent years, and has helped keep overall unemployment stable.
Geoffrey Crothall, communications director at Hong Kong-based rights group the China Labour Bulletin, said the pandemic could not explain the whole phenomenon.
“The rate of migrant worker population growth has levelled off in recent years, largely because fewer younger migrants are entering the workforce, and the migrant worker population is ageing steadily,” he said.
Last year, the average age of a Chinese migrant worker increased by 0.6 years from 2019 to 41.4, compared to 34 years old in 2008, according to the NBS.


Workers aged 16 to 30 accounted for 22.7 per cent of the total migrant labour workforce last year, down from 25.1 per cent in 2019. A decade ago, about 42 per cent of migrant workers fell into that age category.
The proportion of migrant workers over the age of 50 more than doubled to 26.4 per cent in 2020 from a decade earlier, according to the NBS.
Right throughout China’s economy, the working age population is rapidly greying. That has led to fears of a pension crisis that prompted Beijing to announce it will delay the retirement age to combat the associated economic effects.
The NBS was expected to publish the results of the once-a-decade census by the end of April, but the official release has not been confirmed as data is still being processed. Regional statistics have already shown births are steadily falling and nationally the population is expected to peak within several years.


Last year, migrant workers’ monthly wages increased only marginally by 2.8 per cent from a year earlier to 4,072 yuan (US$628), NBS data showed. The growth was minimal after accounting for 2.5 per cent inflation, showing the pressure the pandemic has put on low-income groups.
The geographic spread of China’s migrant workers also changed last year, with more people taking jobs in central and western China, and fewer heading to prosperous eastern provinces. Crothall said this was likely to be because they were living and working closer to home.
The number of people who left their hometowns to work grew 42 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, as the economy recovered from a historic contraction between January and March in 2020. Their monthly incomes grew 13.9 per cent year on year to 4,190 yuan in the first quarter.
“I would expect to see a bit of a rebound in total numbers next year, but given overall demographic trends it will not be too much,” Crothall said.


China’s gig economy

Why women in China are still at risk of abduction and forced marriage

Improving migrant workers’ living standards key to boosting Chinese consumption: HSBC

Why is surrogacy in China proving so difficult to ban despite the crackdown?

China's population

China population: coronavirus pandemic fuels decline in migrant labourers amid fears about ageing workforce

For the first time since 2008, the number of migrant workers in China fell in 2020. Photo: AP

For the first time since 2008, the number of migrant workers in China fell in 2020. Photo: AFP

China population: what’s driving central bank concern about the nation’s ageing workforce?

China’s low fertility rate and rapidly ageing population threatens to weigh on the pension system and productivity. Photo: Getty Images


China’s low fertility rate and rapidly ageing population threatens to weigh on the pension system and productivity. Photo: Xinhua

China population: tumbling regional birth rates signal scale of country’s ageing crisis

Chinese mothers gave birth to 14.65 million babies in 2019, the lowest level since 1961, but they are expected to have declined further in 2020. Photo: AP

Chinese mothers gave birth to 14.65 million babies in 2019, the lowest level since 1961, but they are expected to have declined further in 2020. Photo: Xinhua

Coronavirus: China’s stranded migrant workers desperate to return home as savings dry up

For many Chinese migrant workers in Africa and elsewhere, there has been no avenue to return home amid the pandemic. Photo: AFP

A view of a worker dormitory where a quarantine is in effect, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Singapore April 6, 2020. Picture obtained by REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

Tens of thousands of foreign workers in Singapore have been put under quarantine amid the pandemic, and returning to their home countries – including China – is simply not an option. Photo: EPA

China says population grew last year, refuting Financial Times report of first decline in nearly 60 years

The Financial Times reported earlier this week that the latest census figures were expected to show nation’s population slipping to less than 1.4 billion. Photo: AP

The Financial Times reported earlier this week that the latest census figures were expected to show nation’s population slipping to less than 1.4 billion. Photo: Getty Images

China’s industrial profits up 179 per cent at US$169.7 billion in Jan-Feb

China’s industrial sector has rebounded well from the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Xinhua

Employees work on a truck assembly line at a factory for the vehicle manufacturing company Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp. (JAC) in Qingzhou in eastern China's Shandong province on March 15, 2021. (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT

(210306) -- JIAOZHOU, March 6, 2021 (Xinhua) -- A worker adjusts threads at a hat manufacturing shop in Ligezhuang Town in Jiaozhou, east China's Shandong Province, March 4, 2021. Over the past 30 years, Ligezhuang Town, a major manufacturing base and collecting and distributing center featuring hat-related products, has achieved industrial upgrading, providing one-stop service for buyers worldwide. From small workshop to manufacturing cluster with standardized production, the local hat industry has witnessed industrial informationization and intelligentization. Currently, there are over 400 manufacturers in Ligezhuang being engaged in hat-related industries, with products to be exported to over 100 countries and regions. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

Economy

China Economy


The number of migrant workers in China declined by 5.17 million last year compared to 2019, the first drop since 2008
The fall was largely attributed to the coronavirus pandemic, but experts say the ageing population is a problem too



The number of migrant workers in China declined last year due largely to the coronavirus pandemic, but the nation is also contending with an ageing workforce.
