China: 2024 year in review for workers’ rights

An analysis of CLB's 2024 labour data reveals a persistent disregard for workers' rights by employers, corporations, and government authorities, even as China's economic landscape shifts under the pressures of changing overseas investment, domestic demand, and evolving market structures across various sectors.  Meanwhile, workers agitations in the manufacturing sector have surged to their highest levels in nearly a decade, despite a broader trend toward smaller-scale disputes, reflecting the transition to high-tech factories with fewer workers. As companies prioritise cost-cutting measures and profitability strategies, workers' wages, social insurance, compensation, and living subsidies remain at the bottom of the list—if they are addressed at all. This growing tension underscores the widening gap between corporate interests and the basic rights of the labour force, painting a stark picture of the challenges facing workers in 2024.

In their 2024 report, China Labour Bulletin (CLB) broadly analyses the raw data collected in their Strike Map and conducts a sector-by-sector analysis of issues affecting China’s workers and their rights. To know more about our methodology, see our introduction to the Strike Map here.

Broad trends

A total of 1,509 incidents were recorded in CLB’s Strike Map in 2024, a small decrease from 2023 (1,794 incidents) but still higher than the pandemic years (2019 to 2022). Worker unrest has remained at high pre-pandemic levels. 2023 was an exceptional year, as worker unrest came roaring back on the tail end of the pandemic. 

Among industries, the construction industry continued to see the most protests (733 incidents; 48.6 percent). While the total number of cases fell, those in the manufacturing industry (452 incidents; 30 percent) saw a rise from 2023. They were followed by the services industry (148 incidents; 9.81 percent), transport and logistics (64 incidents; 4.24 percent), heavy industry (21 incidents; 1.39 percent), education (15 incidents; 0.99 percent) and mining (12 incidents; 0.80 percent). 

Incidents predominantly occurred in coastal provinces, but significant numbers of cases were also seen in inland ones. Guangdong continued to see the most labour rights-related incidents (346 incidents), while Shandong (106 incidents) and Zhejiang (101 incidents) recorded relatively high incidents. Notably, inland provinces such as Henan (80 incidents), Hebei (69) and Shaanxi (59) also saw many cases of labour rights abuses. 

In 2024, China's economy was challenged by domestic as well as international developments. Domestically, interest and confidence in housing slumped, causing headaches for developers and construction companies.The expansion of e-commerce and ride-hailing platforms challenged the operations of existing companies. Changes in consumer behaviours required the services industries to adapt. Debts incurred by local governments meant that public services were affected. Internationally, when multinational companies decided to cut costs, factories in China were obliged to reduce or halt production. Given the trend of diversifying production away from China, the manufacturing industries have been getting affected gradually. 

As the effects of all these economic challenges were passed on from companies and employers to workers, the latter saw their wages and social insurance going unpaid while in some cases, workers faced abrupt job losses without fair compensation as businesses shuttered or relocated. Unsurprisingly, wage arrears emerged once again as the top grievance, accounting for 88% of reported labour disputes. 

In 2024, CLB recorded just four labour strikes involving over 1,000 workers, with more than 95% of reported incidents involving fewer than 100 participants. This trend has remained consistent since 2017 (see CLB analysis) and may reflect authorities’ continued efforts to prevent large-scale protests that could pose a risk to social stability. Probably the biggest strike of the year involved thousands of state-owned forest farm workers in Heilongjiang protesting for fairer working conditions last winter In 2024, China's economy was challenged by domestic as well as international developments. Domestically, interest and confidence in housing slumped, causing headaches for developers and construction companies.The expansion of e-commerce and ride-hailing platforms challenged the operations of existing companies. Changes in consumer behaviours required the services industries to adapt. Debts incurred by local governments meant that public services were affected. Internationally, when multinational companies decided to cut costs, factories in China were obliged to reduce or halt production. Given the trend of diversifying production away from China, the manufacturing industries have been getting affected gradually. 

As the effects of all these economic challenges were passed on from companies and employers to workers, the latter saw their wages and social insurance going unpaid while in some cases, workers faced abrupt job losses without fair compensation as businesses shuttered or relocated. Unsurprisingly, wage arrears emerged once again as the top grievance, accounting for 88% of reported labour disputes. 

Unions need to represent workers and companies need to be held accountable

The challenging economic environment of 2024, characterized by uncertainties in the real estate market, shifting geopolitical dynamics affecting exports, overproduction in manufacturing, evolving consumer behaviours due to e-commerce, and competition in the ride-hailing and express delivery sectors, has further exacerbated the neglect of workers' rights. As demonstrated by incidents documented in the Strike Map, workers have faced issues such as layoffs, unpaid wages, and lack of social insurance. This underscores the urgent need for both unions and corporations to be held accountable for protecting workers' rights. 

First, trade unions must prioritise accountability to workers. CLB’s research highlights that union chairpersons, in many instances, are corporate executives, creating a conflict of interest that prevents unions from truly representing workers. To address this, unions must actively engage with workers to understand their concerns and proactively communicate with enterprises to anticipate workplace changes that may affect workers' rights. CLB has long advocated for unions to reform their structures and practices to genuinely serve as representatives of workers, rather than reacting only after labour rights abuses occur. 

Second, multinational corporations must be held accountable for labour rights violations in their supply chains. The enactment of new supply chain due diligence laws, such as Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (2023) and the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (2024), provides a framework for greater corporate responsibility. At the United Nations Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum in September 2024, CLB presented its approach, demonstrating how workers in China use social media to share grievances and document labour rights violations, even in the face of internet censorship. This wealth of worker-generated information can hopefully enable companies to conduct due diligence and prevent human rights abuses in their supply chains.

Source: China Labour Bulletin