They used to work for China’s biggest companies. Now they’re doing manual labor

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Leon Li used to play a discreet but indispensable part at one of China’s biggest tech giants.

As an administrative officer, she worked around the clock to schedule meetings, prepare documents and provide her bosses with whatever support they needed.

But in February, she quit the company, forgoing a stable career and comfortable salary for
something a little less stressful — cleaning homes.

“Every morning when the alarm rang, all I could see was my dull future,” she told CNN, reflecting on her office job.

Li, 27, is part of a growing base of Chinese workers swapping high-pressure office jobs for flexible blue-collar work.

Many of them used to work for some of the biggest companies in the country.

But these firms are slowly losing their appeal as China’s economy faces headwinds including a property crisis, declining foreign investment and slumping consumption.

China’s economy grew 4.7% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2024, missing economists’ expectations and marking the weakest growth since the first quarter of last year, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Monday.

Gruelingly long hours and shrinking resources have prompted employees like Li to rethink whether it’s worth trading their time and health for higher pay.

“I like cleaning up. As living standards improve (across the country), the demand for housekeeping services is also surging with an ever-expanding market,” said Li, who lives in the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan.

But more importantly, she feels happier.

“The change it