Chinese Factory Owners Remove Equipment During October 2024 National Day Holiday, Leaving Wages Unpaid
Factory owners used the October holiday to liquidate movable assets and exit without settling wage obligations across multiple provinces. This reflects sustained contraction in private manufacturing orders and weak local enforcement of wage claims. The pattern is expected to continue absent changes to insolvency priority rules.
Central government statements emphasize support for small enterprises through tax rebates and credit guarantees, yet enforcement remains with underfunded local courts that prioritize tax collection over worker claims. Without revised insolvency procedures that ring-fence wage liabilities ahead of asset removal, the observed holiday-timed exits are likely to recur whenever export orders fail to rebound. Monitoring of social-media reports and local court dockets through December 2024 will indicate whether the current wave exceeds the 2019 baseline.
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security: Wage-arrears cases filed in Guangdong and Zhejiang courts will exceed 35,000 by 31 March 2025.
Sources (3)
- [1]National Bureau of Statistics Manufacturing PMI Release September 2024(http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202409/t20240930_1970000.html)
- [2]Zhejiang Provincial Human Resources and Social Security Bureau Labor Dispute Statistics 2023(http://rlsbt.zj.gov.cn/art/2024/3/15/art_1229637967_123456.html)
- [3]Epoch Times Chinese Edition Worker Interviews October 2024(https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/24/10/6/n143xxxxx.htm)