Sounds like labor being switched, i.e. from hourly worker to one-person service firm that still does the same job except as contractor. China is not like the US

Sounds like labor being switched, i.e. from hourly worker to one-person service firm that still does the same job except as contractor. China is not like the US or EU in that you get social benefits like retirement and unemployment from the geo-locale you were born in not the place where you live and work. Thus, the have workers in factories that cannot get social benefits in that locale as they were not born there. It makes the non-locales more pliable as a far as moving them to non-employee I would think ass they may be more hungry to make up the difference in social benefits they miss out on.