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The graph shows the number of employed people in China from 2015 to 2025. In 2025, the workforce in China amounted to around 725 million people. This marked an annual decrease of nine million and is in line with a general downward trend since 2014. 

Workforce in China

China’s total population has been declining since 2022 and dropped by 3.4 million annually to around 1.405 billion as of the end of 2025. This development is also reflected in the number of people in working age which has been shrinking since 2014. The labor force of China, which refers to the population aged 16 and over and capable of working, has been declining since 2016 and ranged at around 766.6 million in 2024. Out of the total number of employed people in 2025, about 475.4 million people were employed in urban areas, while 249.7 million people were working in rural areas.

Distribution of the workforce

The share of the workforce employed in the primary sector declined significantly from 36.7 percent in 2010 to 22.2 percent in 2024, only interrupted in 2022 by effects related to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the percentage of people employed in the primary sector decreased, the tertiary sector gained importance. As of 2024, about 29 percent of Chinese workers were employed in secondary and 48.8 percent in tertiary industries. The share of the workforce employed in the secondary sector increased until 2012 but decreased thereafter due to China's shift towards a service driven economy.