Chinese labour unrest extended its footprint last year as workforce tensions that have long beset the manufacturing and construction industries began to hit the fast-growing sectors...[S]trikes and protests recorded in 2016 by China Labour Bulletin...spread to new sectors partly offsetting a drop in manufacturing unrest.

"The new economy is rife with the old labour problems of the past," …China’s labour supply is tightening as fewer young hands join the migrant workforce on which manufacturing and construction have long relied — driving up wages, prompting salary arrears and threatening older workers’ social insurance payments when employers close shop or move without warning. Yet couriers and salespeople employed in sectors such as retail and logistics are increasingly faced with similar issues. Incidents of industrial action doubled for retail workers, grew by a quarter in transport and a fifth in the services sector. For the first time their combined total exceeded manufacturing incidents, which fell by almost a third. In construction, still responsible for the largest share, incidents rose only 8 per cent. The true level of Chinese labour unrest is likely to be much higher. Workers have also harnessed the internet to enhance their organisational capacity…