China’s economic slowdown, combined with rapidly shifting patterns of employment and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, resulted in a marked decline in the number of collective protests by workers last year. 

China boasted a robust economic recovery following the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, but official statistics confirm that rural migrant workers, who make up more than one-third of the working population, suffered severe job losses and saw incomes stagnate.

One month after 23 workers died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a Chongqing coal mine, China’s State Administration of Coal Mine Safety announced that 2020 had been one of the safest years on record for the industry, with no “exceptionally serious” accidents.

An engineer employed at e-commerce platform Pinduoduo reportedly jumped to his death on Saturday, 9 January, after unexpectedly returning home on leave. It was the second sudden death of a Pinduoduo employee in ten days, highlighting the extreme pressure faced by workers in China’s ultra-competitive tech sector.