China’s largest online domestic helper agency says labour shortage a worry amid population decline
- It will be increasingly hard to find enough domestic helpers as China’s labour base shrinks and Chinese millennials remain reluctant to do such work, says Chen
- China’s population peaked in 2022 as the country’s birth rate slowed dramatically, with ramifications for many aspects of the Chinese economy and society
Chen Xiaohua, founder and CEO of the agency also known as 58 Daojia, told a digital economy forum hosted by Alibaba Group Holding’s Luohan Academy in Hangzhou on Wednesday that it will be increasingly hard to find enough domestic helpers as the labour base shrinks and Chinese millennials are reluctant to work in such jobs.
“Decline in population is a big concern,” Chen said. “Ten years from now, it’ll be hard to find those born in the 1990s or 2000s [willing] to work as Ayi,” Chen said, using a Chinese phrase for domestic helper.
“Those who can afford domestic services [in China] today should feel lucky, as it is [going to be] more difficult and expensive to hire a domestic helper [a decade] from now,” he said.
China’s population peaked in 2022 as the country’s birth rate slowed dramatically, with ramifications for many aspects of the Chinese economy and society. Chen said his agency has provided intermediary services for about 2 million Chinese domestic helpers, making it the largest in the country. Chen noted that China’s domestic helpers are mainly females between 35 and 55 years old.