‘They don’t need people’: The workers left behind by China’s robot drive

Hu Xinbing, 31, rests in a Kunshan park, using a windbreaker as a pillow, a stark image of the new reality for many workers in China's manufacturing heartland. Once a bustling center producing a third of the world's laptops, Kunshan, near Shanghai, is now grappling with the fallout of China's ambitious shift towards advanced technology.

For decades, workers like Hu flocked to Kunshan for steady assembly line jobs. But automation, driven by uncertain global demand and trade frictions, is rapidly replacing human hands. "It's all robots driving screws. They don’t need people to do it anymore," Hu, originally from Henan province, explained. He used to earn up to 6,000 yuan a month on longer contracts, but now relies on precarious daily gigs, mostly in security, paying between 60 and 120 yuan.

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It’s all robots driving screws. They don’t need people to do it anymore.

This predicament highlights a critical challenge for China's economic transformation. While the nation leads in areas like AI and electric vehicles, the jobs created often require specialized skills, failing to absorb the vast numbers of less-skilled workers displaced from traditional manufacturing. Millions have been pushed into the gig economy, a precarious existence compared to the stable factory employment of the past.

The situation in Kunshan underscores the human cost of China's technological ascent. As the country strives for global dominance in high-tech industries, ensuring that its massive workforce is not left behind remains a complex and pressing issue.

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It feels like there won’t be any work left in the future, if things keep developing like this.