China Is Worried About AI Job Losses

Beijing values domestic stability over global competition.

Job seekers walk between tents at a job fair in Beijing. November 20, 2025, 2:25 PM Comment icon View Comments ( )

In Shanghai, jobless young professionals are paying $5 a day to sit beneath fluorescent lights at the aptly named Pretend to Work Co., one of many faux offices across the city that offer Wi-Fi, coffee, and the illusion of employment. Likely no more than a few blocks away, rural migrant workers sleep in shifts in a shared room, trading off turns at a single job.

Both groups are being buffeted by the same headwinds. China’s slowing economy and structural shifts—including a real estate collapse and a crackdown on the tech sector—have left fewer jobs to go around. An

See Full Page