China’s Market Reopens; Tech Companies Fight Personnel Dismissal
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China’s Market Reopens; Tech Companies Fight Personnel Dismissal

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Rodrigo Andrade By Rodrigo Andrade | Journalist & Industry Analyst - Fri, 12/30/2022 - 10:00

After almost three years of policy changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, China aims to recover its manufacturing capacity and remain one of the two most powerful economies in the world as the country reopens its market. Giant tech companies continue to cut back on staff, leading employees to start looking at SMEs as valuable alternatives for their professional life. 

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China’s Market Reopening Brings New Challenges to the Country

Experts agree that the country’s reopening plan will bring confidence to foreign investors and also repair relationships damaged over the past three years. China will stop centralized quarantine and COVID-19 testing for inbound travelers. “Trust in doing business in China will return if the Chinese government takes decisive action to revitalize the economy and further facilitates business travel,” said Jens Hildebrandt, Executive Director, German Chamber of Commerce in China. 

New challenges arrive as the shortage of labor is one of the most concerning issues in China's situation. "There is still a shortage of labor in the services sector in big cities and the loss of productivity is quite obvious," said Dan Wang, Chief Economist, Hang Seng Bank China. 

The country reported a tenfold increase in cross-border destinations and a 254 percent increase in outbound flights booking, according to data from Critp’s and Trip.com, as reported by MBN. 

Amazon Fails to Report Warehouse Accidents

According to US federal regulators, Amazon has failed to submit specific worker injuries on legally required injury reports. The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Amazon for 14 record-keeping infractions, with fines that reach up to US$29,000. The company claims that it is effectively reducing accident rates. However, Amazon warehouse workers get injured approximately twice as frequently as other employees in the same sector. 

Top Tech Companies Continues Reducing Staff

The tech industry is making headlines for recent layoffs in the most important companies in the sector, cutting over 50,000 jobs in November alone and more than 150,000 during 2022. Meta, Amazon, Twitter, Salesforce and HP faced significant stagnation after more than a decade of unfettered expansion. This shifted the paradigm for tech employees, which are now starting to look for startups and midsize companies as a new alternative to grow professionally. 

“Given the tech layoffs and lower hiring by big-tech companies, folks are looking for smaller tech companies to join,” said Christopher Fong, Founder, Xoogler.co, a platform of ex-Google employees. 

Audi Mexico Seek Agreement Before Union Strike

Unionized employees at Audi's Mexico plant have set a Jan. 1, 2023, deadline to reach an agreement with the company over pay raises without launching a strike. The automaker has given two proposals to the union group: the first option offered a salary increase of 8.4 percent in 2023, while the second proposal included a 9.4 percent increase next year with an annual increase until 2026 in line with inflation, plus an increase of 1 percent.

Photo by:   Romana

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