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.

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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