Coronavirus Pandemic Leaves Chinese Migrant Workers Struggling To Hold On

The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is expected to cause millions more people in China to lose their jobs.

Economists say many of them will be left stranded without a safety net, unable to access state unemployment benefits.

According to Reuters, the rapid spread of the disease around the world has dashed hopes for a quick recovery there.

Analysts expect nearly 30 million job losses in China this year due to plummeting global demand.

It's particularly bad for roughly 200 million rural migrant workers, who work for low wages and have limited access to public health care.

Many were shut out of factories and barred from crossing city lines when China locked down large swathes of the country.

One study estimates migrant laborers might have already lost up to $100 billion in wages during the lost working weeks of lockdown earlier this year.