The Chinese labor market in the post-crisis period; has been shaped by the growing population, employment and GDP, shrinking agriculture and industrial sector, expanding service sector, gradually decreasing growth rates, unchanged unemployment and labor force participation rates. The most important effect of the 2008 crisis in the field of industrial relations was seen in the increase of labor movements. As a matter of fact, the strike seen in the Nanhai Honda automobile factory in South China in 2010 spread to other sectors. Foxconn suicides, which were also seen in the same year, were decisive in this context.  

Another turning point for the post-crisis labor movements was 2015. Workers’ movements, which were realized at rates not seen until that day, are the main determinants of this period. In this context, the acceleration of labor movements, which increased especially since 2010, continued after 2015 in the post-crisis period. The main reasons for the workers’ movements are wage arrears and wage increase, basically the issue of wages. Especially, the issue of wage arrears has a dominant weight in reasons of labor movements in the post-crisis period. The size of this reason, defined as the overdue wages to be paid, was around 80% after the crisis but reached 90% as of 2019. Also the dualism problem experienced by the workers emerges as an important factor. 

In this context, post-crisis labor movements mostly concentrated on the construction and manufacturing sectors. These sectors were followed by the manufacturing, service, transportation-logistics sector. While a significant part of the labor movements is seen in private initiatives, this is followed by SEEs or companies with no ownership. While most of the workers’ movements were seen as protests, this was followed by sit-ins and strikes. The vast majority of the labor movements (around 90%) consisted of 1-100 people. Also there have been movements with the participation of 101-1000 people, and even rarely, movements with the participation of 1001-10,000 people. The response to the actions realized that primarily police intervention, state intervention and management negotiations.

On the other hand, the basic dynamics of labor movements after the crisis can be handled within the scope of political, economic, technological, social developments and NGOs. Accordingly, It can be expressed within the scope of political developments: Party-State system, which continues to dominate the industrial relations system, flexibility and subcontracting practices within the scope of liberal policies. Due to the slowing growth figures, the Xi government’s policies to calm down labor activism are taking place. The slowdown in economic growth and even the gradual decline in growth figures was effective. Policies developed as a result of this have been mostly business oriented. Likewise, liberal policies, privatizations, emphasis on subcontracting policies regarding the protection of employment, the suspension of labor law at the point of continuing and increasing local investments came to the fore during this period.

It can be expressed within the scope of technological developments: It is prominent that China leads the world in both robot production and use. In this context, the increase in the need for a skilled workforce, the goals of increasing the robot density, the vision of MIC 2025, seeing technological developments as the engine of production, experiencing the most comprehensive automation level in the world, and President Xi’s call for the Robot Revolution in 2014 are of great importance. The negative effects of these developments on wage and employment conditions and at the same time increasing worker unrest have been determinant at this point.

Likewise, It can be expressed within the scope of sociological developments: Due to inflation and rising living standards, the wage issue is the main factor. Also, wage policies that differ among regions are effective. Although there was an increase in the wage level in the post-crisis period below the level of developed countries. It is stated that the most prominent effect in this process is the China-USA trade wars. On the other hand, wage policies applied reduced the poverty level from 88% in 1981 to 11%. Accordingly, real wages increased by 9.1% between 2008 and 2014. According to this while real wages continue to increase in the post-crisis period, the poverty level continues to decrease. However, the most important reason for the labor movements is the wage issue. At this point, it should be underlined that the problem is wage arrears. Another issue within the context of social developments in the issue of migrant workers. In this context, the accumulation of migrant workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors is again of great importance in terms of the most strikes in these sectors. The fact that immigration, whose number is constantly increasing over time, is experienced from the inner regions to the coastal regions from the central and western regions to the eastern regions affects the number of strikes in these regions. At the same time, the fact that migrant workers are exposed to marginalized and institutionalized discrimination, the hukou system, the shaping of their working conditions in a relatively unfavorable framework, and they generally work in low-skilled jobs emerge as a distinctive feature at this point.

On the other hand, one of the most important issues affecting labor movements in the post-crisis period is NGO activities. In particular, the control of the ACFTU by the government and the bias of the employer made the activities in this scope valuable. As a matter of fact, NGOs have carried out important activities on how to organize and conduct strikes, as well as to know the rights and freedoms. In other words, NGOs have played a role in undertaking the missions that a union should fulfill.