Job Jitters Mount as China’s Factories Sputter Ahead of Lunar New Year

Workers queue to collect their employee contract termination letters at a Maersk container factory in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China on Jan. 7, 2019. Stella Qiu/Reuters

DONGGUAN/HONG KONG—Wang Zhishen was thrilled when Danish shipper A.P. Moller-Maersk gave him two months’ paid leave, relishing the chance to spend time with his wife and daughters in China’s remote northwestern Gansu Province.

But his euphoria over what he thought was an unexpected bonus quickly turned to despair when Maersk fired Wang on January 3, less than a month after he packed his bags in the southern Chinese manufacturing center of Dongguan.