At 41, he's struggling to find work in a labor market where companies tend not to hire anyone over 35. The downturn in the property market followed a crackdown on excess borrowing by real estate developers. Many cities have relaxed controls on property deals imposed earlier to cool price bubbles, and some 6,000 property projects have been green-lighted for lending. “The property market has been such a significant source of China’s growth and now it has gone into reverse,” Wright said, though he noted there are signs the market is stabilizing. One strategy would be to shift more national wealth into workers’ pockets, says Michael Pettis, a leading expert on the Chinese economy and professor at Beijing University.

Source: The Standard March 04, 2024 12:21 UTC