A worker welds metal truck parts at a factory in Weifang in China's eastern Shandong province, on Aug. 14, 2020.Yang Jun can’t see much cause for optimism, no matter where he looks. Dalingshan town in Dongguan, the southern manufacturing hub, once called itself “Asia’s furniture products base.” Now, Mr. Yang can count seven or eight furniture-makers that did well last year, but have declared bankruptcy in 2020.
For those people he hasn’t laid off, he has slashed pay. Gone are monthly salaries, replaced by payment per completed piece. “And in a bleak time like this, nobody can guarantee that all workers are able to get pieces to work on,” Mr. Yang said. But “it’s impossible for people to get paid without working, given that their boss doesn’t have enough food to eat.”
While high-tech workers continue to pull high salaries and auto makers find a surprisingly robust surge in sales, other sectors have struggled. In July, retail sales were down 1.1 per cent compared with last year – spending on dining fell 11 per cent. Before the pandemic, retail sales were growing at an 8-per-cent pace.
The effects of the pandemic are deeply uneven, even within companies. At one fast-food chain in Beijing, management cut head-office salaries in half in March, but left wages untouched for store staff, whom they feared losing, a worker said. The Globe is not identifying the worker, who fears reprisals for speaking out. Media companies have cut bonuses.
This file photo taken July 27, 2020, shows a worker producing inductors for exportion at a factory in Suqian, in China's eastern Jiangsu province.The epidemic, however, has come in the midst of what had already been a difficult time for some manufacturers in China, after a trade war that has imposed tariffs on goods, and amid growing competition from other countries seeking to enlarge their own industrial bases.
At Xiangxing Precision Hardware Mould Processing Factory, however, “we’ve lost so much money,” worker Luo Sheng said.“Many factories are on the verge of bankruptcy. Cutting wages is normal – and let’s not even talk about salaries. Many people will lose their jobs, because there’s nothing for them to do.”
Cda used to have a mfrg heartland before our workers lost their jobs due to offshoring to China where they rely heavily on coal & spew environmental pollution with impunity. Support Made in Cda where little coal is still in use & our mfrs must comply with strict enviro regs.
Let’s hope the domestic issues trump the expansionist desires they have