Blue-Collar Wages Outpace White-Collar in China for Sixth Straight Year as Flexible Employment Tops 300 Million

Wage growth for blue-collar workers in China has outpaced that of their white-collar peers for six consecutive years, according to Semafor. More than 300 million Chinese people now hold flexible employment setups, a new think tank report stated. Food delivery drivers ranked among the highest-paid blue-collar workers, with annual income growth exceeding 10 percent from 2023 to 2025.

The country’s tech-driven delivery sector has expanded rapidly in recent years, and many drivers work grueling schedules, Semafor reported. Stagnating white-collar wages could compound anxieties around AI’s impact on the workforce. Hundreds of people applied to a job listing for shepherds in Inner Mongolia, with 10 percent of applicants being recent college graduates, reflecting labor market strains.