For decades, China was one of the world’s largest sources of migrant labour. Its workers staffed factories at home and built infrastructure abroad. But demographic decline may eventually force China to contemplate a striking reversal: importing workers on a meaningful scale.
That change is not imminent. China still has a vast labour force and substantial youth unemployment. It is investing heavily in industrial automation, extending working lives through a gradual increase in the retirement age, and trying to move workers from regions with surplus labour to where employers struggle to recruit.
Yet the direction of travel is becoming difficult to ignore. China’s population fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025. The number of employed people declined to 725 million from 740 million in 2023.