Li, 27, is part of a growing base of Chinese workers swapping high-pressure office jobs for flexible blue-collar work.
But these firms are slowly losing their appeal as China’s economy faces headwinds including a property crisis, declining foreign investment and slumping consumption.
The trend to move from professional to manual jobs comes amid surging demand for blue-collar workers, according to Chinese recruitment platform Zhaopin.
And blue-collar workers’ pay has also gone up, attracting more people to jobs they might have previously avoided.
Pressure of another kindBut some wonder if blue-collar work is truly the stress-free refuge people like Li and Wang imagine it to be.
Persons:
Hong Kong CNN — Leon Li, ”, Li, “, Alice Wang, Wang, –, Larry Hu, Zhang Yuxiao, David Goodman, commenter
Organizations:
Hong Kong CNN, CNN, National Bureau of Statistics, Workers, NBS, University of Sydney’s China Studies Centre
Locations:
China, Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Chengdu, –, Macquarie, Shanghai