New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) Rejection of careerist competition among young Chinese popularly known as “lying flat” movement stemmed from China’s one‑child policy, a new report has said.
The report from Japan Times argued that the one‑child policy reduced the number of high‑consumption households and weakened household bargaining power.
One‑child policy pushed the share of household disposable income in GDP from about two-thirds in the 1980s down to about 44 per cent, Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said in the report.
The drop in household disposable income pushed down Chinese domestic consumption and job creation. It also led to extensive industrial subsidies, which have produced a “pathological manufacturing boom.”
“China now accounts for 17 per cent of global GDP and 28 per cent of global manufacturing value-added, but only 12 per cent of global household consumption,” the report noted.
Further, the weakening social safety net, compelled workers to log longer hours to make ends meet.
“Competition for employment is so intense that those who hold a job feel pressure to work overtime just to keep it. The average Chinese work week has risen to around 49 hours — and as high as 60 hours in some cases — compared to 38 hours in the United States, 33 in Germany, 37 in Japan and 42 in Vietnam,” the report said.
Long working hours also deprive young people of time to build relationships, marry or have kids further exacerbating China’s population decline.
The report highlighted a mismatch between surging higher‑educational attainment and an underdeveloped services sector that remains too small to absorb graduates.
Annual graduates rose from 1.01 million in 2000 to 12.22 million in 2025, but the services sector–the main employer for recent graduates– accounts for roughly 47 per cent of jobs far below levels in advanced economies.
The report highlighted that millions of young Chinese don’t have the “privilege of lying flat”. They can neither find stable employment nor rely on family support, and are forced into the gig economy, as food deliverers, ride-hailing drivers, couriers or live-streamers.
—IANS
aar/pk