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Beijing [China]Jan. 12 (ANI): Bulgarian financial blog site Zero Hedge reports that workers staged a protest in Chongqing, a major city in southwest China, after thousands were abruptly laid off by COVID-test kit maker Zybio, Inc. .
Online videos showed workers dismantling COVID test kits, vandalizing company offices and clashing with police in riot gear. They threw water bottles, plastic boxes and cones at police fleeing protesters.
Zybio abruptly fired nearly 8,000 employees, sparking riots, according to employees interviewed by the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times, Zero Hedge reported. Employees were told they could leave two weeks before Chinese New Year, Zero Hedge reported.
Zhenghe Biotech is a leading manufacturer of in vitro diagnostic reagents and equipment, headquartered in Dadukou District, Chongqing, according to the company website.
Many of the laid-off employees were hired by the company in 2022 to meet urgent testing needs under China’s zero-COVID policy. The drugmaker was hit hard after the Chinese government abruptly abandoned its zero-COVID policy, ending mandatory testing.
According to Zero Hedge, a Zybio employee confirmed that the protests were sparked by the company’s sudden layoffs.
“The company let us go, but didn’t tell us when we would come back, or whether to pay us,” Zero Hedge quoted Xiaodong as saying. Xiaodong said Zybio has promised to pay bonuses of 3,000 yuan (about $438) to employees who work for the company around the Spring Festival.
Recently, some media reported that according to CNN’s calculation based on official statistics, there are currently about 20 million urban unemployed people aged 16 to 24 in China. Official figures put the urban youth population at 107 million. The data excludes the rural unemployment rate.
According to the Hong Kong Post, “China’s youth unemployment rate hit a record high this year, rising from 15.3 percent in March to 18.2 percent in April, and continued to climb in the following months to reach 19.9 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The ratio fell slightly in July to 18.7% in August, but remains at an all-time high, the data showed.
About one in five able-bodied Chinese lost their jobs due to severe unemployment caused by COVID. The country faces an economic downturn as top companies operating in China lay off workers. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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