China's Economy Regresses by 40 Years: Delivery Drivers Become Graveyards for the Unemployed;

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:03]I woke up to a barrage of insults. The comment section is full of people criticizing me. I said I earn $150 a month and many said I was exaggerating.

[00:00:12]I just asked my friend who's a kindergarten teacher and his first month salary was $117.

[00:00:18]Let me clarify. I live in a small county in Shanchi province. In our local kindergarten, the internship salary is $117 a month. Then I asked him how much he earns after becoming a full-time teacher, and he said, "A little over $150."

[00:00:33]Only senior teachers with many years of experience can earn around a little over $300.

[00:00:43]>> Auntie, can I ask you something? How much do they pay you now?

[00:00:49]>> My salary $117 a month. $117?

[00:00:54]That's not enough. Our salaries are a bit low. How can it only be $117?

[00:01:01]That's only a few dollars a day. Yes, only a few dollars. China's economic growth is sluggish and continues to deteriorate with a large number of enterprises going bankrupt, the real estate market collapsing, the unemployment rate remaining high and foreign capital withdrawing. It can be said that all industries are in trouble and low wages are becoming increasingly common. The pressure on people's lives is increasing day by day. The life path that was once considered achievable, a stable job, graduate education, buying a car, buying a home, and steadily upgrading one's lifestyle, is becoming increasingly unattainable for today's young Chinese people.

[00:01:40]I only completed seven orders by 1:00 a.m., barely scraping together $4, averaging a little over a dollar per order. The price per order was particularly low today, and I couldn't get the higher priced orders. I could only watch helplessly as others snatch them away. It's bitterly cold outside.

[00:01:57]The wind is chilling me to the bone. The streets are deserted. Hardly anyone is around and there are hardly any orders.

[00:02:04]I sit on my electric scooter, my fingers numb from moving them. The light from my phone screen stinging my eyes, thinking about how hard I've worked all day and how my family is waiting for money. I am feeling a pain of sadness. I've tried so hard yet I still can't change my life.

[00:02:26]My company just sent out a notice saying that our payday will be postponed.

[00:02:30]Previously, we got paid on the 10th of each month, but now it's around the 15th. I have a home renovation loan with installments due on the 13th of each month. So, I quickly called the bank.

[00:02:40]They told me I could postpone it, but you could only appear once a year. So, I postponed it to April 1st. It's so annoying. The company keeps doing these kinds of things. I feel like it makes employees anxious. Why change the payment date all of a sudden? Is it because the company's cash flow is tight?

[00:03:04]I know the job market is tough right now, but I didn't expect it to be this bad. A few days ago, I submitted my resume and they sent me a test with four questions and two written questions. To be honest, it wasn't easy. Their job posting said 5 to 8k yuan. So I completed the test and sent it to them.

[00:03:22]They said I passed. I thought that with such a high level test the salary couldn't be too low. Then I went for the interview and they told me that the base salary was $410. I was completely shocked.

[00:03:39]My brother-in-law was laid off before the Chinese New Year and subsequently no job can be found. He then took up food delivery. Yesterday, he told me he didn't want to do it anymore because there were simply no orders. I urged everyone not to have this kind of thinking, like thinking that if you lose your job someday, you can just work as a food delivery driver. At least you'll have a backup plan. Let me tell you the truth. That's history. Just look at Hong Joe. The streets are full of food delivery drivers and crowdsourced orders are pitifully few. You can't even get one.

[00:04:14]There are so many unemployed people this year, our factory is also preparing for layoffs. I just want to ask you, if you get laid off one day and your income stops, will you have a way out? Will you have anyone to rely on? Don't lie. Some people can rely on their parents. Some people can rely on their partners. So, what about you? Who will you rely on?

[00:04:36]>> Anyone who hasn't come to Jang yet, don't come. who don't come here to have fun. I've been here for seven or eight days and the factory that hired over 20 people has laid off all of them. Anyway, I can still use this stuff at home. When it arrives, I just pick it up and leave.

[00:04:51]I'll go home, plant the potatoes, and then figure out what to do next.

[00:04:58]How poor is everyone this year? Let me tell you about myself. I was born in 1988, so I'm 38 this year. I lost my job before the Chinese New Year and have no income. My husband is the sole bread winner for our family of four. To make matters worse, he's almost unemployed, too. He's only been receiving partial pay for the past 5 months. It's truly a case of misfortunes, never coming singingly. Even worse, we both work in software, and the entire industry is laying off employees, especially those around 35. Once you're unemployed, you basically can't find a job. I'm afraid you'll laugh when I say this. Now, we can't even afford to send our kids to tutoring classes anymore. We only go to the supermarket after 8:30 because of the discounts.

[00:05:44]Around 10 p.m. in Naing, I witnessed a female delivery rider with a child on the back. The child wrapped in a cotton padded coat and dozing off. She parked her bike and dashed into a residential area to deliver orders. I was stunned, frozen in place for a long time. Lately, I've noticed many more female delivery riders. There are so many more. This can't be due to unemployment, right?

[00:06:17]>> So many delivery riders. Are there even more people ordering takeout? There are two rows of bikes parked here. Four rows on each side. Too many. There are a lot of delivery people here.

[00:06:33]The number of university graduates in China is constantly increasing and the unemployment rate remains high.

[00:06:40]Currently, more and more university and high school students are dropping out due to the economic downturn. Even after graduation, many can't find jobs and many families are experiencing a sharp decline in income and are unable to afford their children's education.

[00:06:53]According to the latest estimates from the Chinese Ministry of Education, the number of university graduates in 2026 will reach a record high of 12.7 million, making employment even more difficult. One Nison who dropped out of university after just one semester said that graduates are now facing unemployment once they step out of universities. The most available jobs are those offering low salaries of a few hundred a month. Coupled with the high cost of tuition, his parents agreed to let him start his own business.

[00:07:26]You keep saying it's hard to find a job these days, yet you keep doing contradictory things. A country with over a billion people and you're doing unmanned supermarkets, unmanned factories, and unmanned buses. Do you think that's some kind of cutting edge technology? You're encouraging more births, yet there are tons of college graduates without jobs. If you're talking about technology changing lives, then research something useful for ordinary people. Instead, you keep researching things that will replace ordinary people. What are ordinary people supposed to do? Are they just standing there starving?

[00:08:02]Having around $8,800 in hand, does that make you rich? And my goodness, it's 2026 already. Don't you know what $8,800 means? That's already rich. I dare say in today's society, n out of 10 people can't even come up with $280 in liquid funds. Believe me or not, you're saying there are still people who can't even come up with $146.

[00:08:29]Let me tell you, forget $146. Some people can't even come up with $43. Do you believe it? Do you think people who have reached this point really have a problem with their personal abilities?

[00:08:44]>> My husband got paid today. Let me show you how much he earned this week. He works full-time as a food delivery driver in Quayong. He doesn't have much education. He dropped out of school early to work and make a living. This week, he earned $195.

[00:08:58]He doesn't have social security or housing fund contributions. His salary comes entirely from delivering orders day by day. He works from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., often eating around 3 or 4 p.m. Sometimes he works consecutively when there are orders, and he doesn't want to come home when it rains. He's been working for 24 days straight without a break. Because of a previous injury, he says his back aches after sitting for a long time while riding his bike. So, he doesn't get off work until midnight like before.

[00:09:32]Look, it's just my mother and me in the whole carriage. I asked the train conductor twice if it's going to Ganon.

[00:09:38]I'm really afraid we'd gotten on the wrong train.

[00:09:44]Look, these are all migrant workers. One sleeps here, one sleeps there. So many of them everywhere. It's packed with them, and there are still so many.

[00:09:51]Shiaoli, a sophomore in college, is an only child. Because his father's income is low, and his mother doesn't work, his parents couldn't afford his school fees.

[00:09:59]So after the Chinese New Year, he dropped out to find work. Shiaoli said, "Tuition alone costs tens of thousands of yuan a year, plus living expenses of $117 a month. I'm very frugal. I've been eating instant noodles for three semesters. My family wants me to either join the army or work, and I actually want to work. Shiaoyang, who dropped out of high school two years ago, said her family runs a hair salon, but business is bad now. Her parents can't afford to support her studies, so she came to Hong Joe alone to work. Rent is $292 a month, and she's very anxious because she can't find a job.

[00:10:37]>> March 20th, 2026. Today is my 18th day in Sujo. I didn't go for any interviews through recruitment apps today because I can't schedule any. Everyone says March and April are the peak hiring seasons.

[00:10:49]But March isn't even over yet, and I don't know why, but I can't schedule any interviews at all. When I first arrived, I sent out a lot of resumes, which might be read but not replied to, or might not be read at all, but at least I had two interviews every day. Now, I really can't get any interviews at all.

[00:11:13]Running a family restaurant is so tough, I'm about to give up. I don't know how much longer I can keep going. It's exhausting, both physically and mentally.

[00:11:30]Hello everyone, I'm Gui E, a short drama actress. I'm here using my legal name to report Chen Yule, the producer of the short drama series. He maliciously withheld wages from me and over 80 colleagues in the group, amounting to a staggering $50,000. When I asked him for my wages, he not only threatened to refuse to give me a single penny, but also deleted me from his contacts. Is it wrong for me to demand the hard-earned money I deserve?

[00:12:02]This is the back of the mall. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 eight units. This is a passageway.

[00:12:09]All completely empty. Originally, they cost around $140 to $150,000 each. Now, most are vacant. It should be okay to set up a factory in this location. What do you think about this idea?

[00:12:28]I'm shocked. A whole row of shops is empty. They're all supposed to be rented out. Did they all move out overnight?

[00:12:34]Did the landlords raise the rents and tenants run away? This place used to be very bustling with people, but now it's all empty. This doesn't seem normal. It feels like business is really tough these days. Everything's empty.

[00:12:55]When did Hue High Road become so deserted? K11 is across the street. I doubt there are many people there either. I'll go check it out later.

[00:13:12]Oh, I see very few people. I only see few delivery drivers and staff.

[00:13:20]>> China's economic downturn has led to a significant decrease in the population of major cities. Previously bustling downtown commercial districts are now sparsely populated and shopping malls are extremely deserted. Since the beginning of this year, a large number of shopping malls and shops across the country have closed down. Mr. Leo, a Shanghai resident, stated that the collapse of China's two major economic pillars, real estate and foreign trade, coupled with the lack of domestic demand, has led to a widespread economic downturn. Although the Chinese government has issued numerous consumption vouchers and subsidies to stimulate consumption, many believe that those tools are ineffective. If the core issue is not a lack of income but a lack of confidence. Some analysts also believe that China is facing not only a cyclical slowdown but also a generational rethinking of what constitutes a good life.

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