They used to work for China’s biggest companies. Now they’re doing manual labor
CNN
Conglomerates in China are slowly losing their appeal as economy faces headwinds. Some workers resign themselves to blue-collar jobs for work-life balance.
Leon Li used to play a discreet but indispensable part at one of China’s biggest tech giants. As an administrative officer, she worked around the clock to schedule meetings, prepare documents and provide her bosses with whatever support they needed. But in February, she quit the company, forgoing a stable career and comfortable salary forsomething a little less stressful — cleaning homes. “Every morning when the alarm rang, all I could see was my dull future,” she told CNN, reflecting on her office job. Li, 27, is part of a growing base of Chinese workers swapping high-pressure office jobs for flexible blue-collar work. Many of them used to work for some of the biggest companies in the country.
Nippon Steel is expected to re-file its application for a national security review by American regulators of its $15 billion takeover bid of US Steel, sources familiar with the matter told CNN on Tuesday, buying Japan’s largest steelmaker an additional 90 days to close its acquisition of an American rival after political opposition emerged in an election year.
So far, the attacks that targeted Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah members through their pagers have had devastating consequences. At least nine people, including an eight-year-old girl, were killed, and at least 2,800 were wounded. Over 150 of those injured are in critical condition, according to the Lebanese health minister.