Chinese Worker’s Livelihood Strategies: A Zhejiang Case Study in the Garment Industry

Abstract

This article evaluates the possibilities of individual agency in the case of a group of workers employed by a large garment factory in Zhejiang Province. The issue of workers’ ability to exercise power is tested by two sets of facts: workers’ job histories and workers’ household expenses. The author argues that workers’ agency is largely dependent upon gender, age, place of origin, and living arrangements. Workers’ main power is the possibility to quit a job. The overall conclusion is that agency remains limited by the precariousness of workers’ lives from a lifelong perspective.