Archive of content related to the migrant workers' wage arrears wave.
On October 22, the CSI 300 index closed down 1.84%, falling about 20% from its June high and entering a technical bear market; according to Bloomberg, the STAR 50 and ChiNext indices have both fallen about 40% in the second half of the year, and analysts believe the national team may need to buy more and for longer.
According to a report by Yicai on October 22, from January to September 2026, nationwide urban and rural residents' household electricity consumption was 123.46 billion kilowatt-hours, down 0.3% year-on-year — the first decline for the same period in nearly ten years.
Commenters reported that wages in Liaocheng have been unpaid for ten months, for staff in Heze under public employment for four months, for dispatched workers in a district of Shenyang for nine months, and in Hebi for seven months, showing that wage arrears are widespread in many places.
From January to May 2026, Beijing's total retail sales of consumer goods fell by 2.5% year-on-year.
Simulations and calculations show that, in order to hold to the general budget target, the government's continued intensification of tax collection would make the tax base and corporate profits unable to bear the load, and the moment the red line is burned through falls around October 2028.
According to data cited in the video, in the first five months of 2026, China's land transfer revenue fell by nearly 30% year-on-year, a steeper decline than for the whole of 2025.
Reports on September 21 showed that the unemployment rate among non-student youth aged 16 to 24 in China rose to 18.9%, amid a continuing economic downturn. Although multiple economists have warned that AI is unlikely to drive employment, Beijing still plans to invest approximately $295 billion over the next five years to build a national data center network. Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of focusing on "hard power" rather than just GDP.
On September 17, Evergrande Auto released its 2026 interim results, showing that the company has only 7 employees left, with total assets of approximately 182 million yuan and liabilities as high as 32.722 billion yuan. The company explicitly stated that it has exited the vehicle manufacturing business and has no intention to resume it, with the net profit for the first half of the year mainly derived from exchange gains on borrowings.
On September 10, the Yunnan Provincial Department of Transport announced the application status for public institution recruitment. Among them, the "Admissions and Employment Management Post" at the Yunnan Transport Technician College recruited only 1 person, but attracted 5,172 applicants, with 4,953 passing the review and 2,106 completing the payment. This position has no major restrictions and is included in the public institution establishment.
On September 11, a video circulated online showing a girl searching for and eating leftover food from a trash can, which garnered widespread attention and shares. The comment section for the related video was strictly limited, displaying only 3 comments, while a large number of netizens used bullet comments to express sarcasm and commentary.
China's National Bureau of Statistics released fixed-asset investment data for January to August. Investment nationwide fell 7.2% year-on-year, while in the Northeast region fixed-asset investment dropped 25.5%, with Liaoning down nearly 30% in the first half of the year.
A number of large companies in the Chengdu area have carried out layoffs, with many people job-hunting for as long as two or three months, while small companies have successively suffered losses and gone out of business, showing the impact of the economic downturn on the city's job market.
There has been a significant increase in the number of middle-class business owners in Shandong, Henan, and Hebei inquiring about immigration and applying for passports, which may be related to concerns about the domestic economic outlook.
China's published fiscal data shows that in the first 8 months of 2026, revenue from state-owned land transfers exceeded 1.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 28.6%.
China's fiscal data show that in the first 8 months of 2026, debt interest payments approached 1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%.