Thursday, July 17, 2025 | 2:00 PM EDT
After the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s economy has struggled to regain momentum. Low domestic demand has impacted multiple industries, while rising youth unemployment is fueling concern among local communities. In response, the Chinese government has introduced a range of policies to strengthen vocational education, aiming to equip young people with practical skills for a growing tech sector.
On July 17, 2025, an interview with Eli Friedman and Yun Zhou, moderated by Andrew Liu, examines key features of China’s labor market, analyzes shifting economic trends, and explores the broader impact of socio-cultural attitudes in the workplace.
Speakers
Eli Friedman
Eli Friedman is a professor at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), where he has taught since 2011. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from UC Berkeley and joined the ILR faculty in 2011. His research explores how China’s global economic ascent has reshaped labor politics across the region, with current work focusing on Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. He is the author of China in Global Capitalism (2024), The Urbanization of People (2022), and Insurgency Trap (2014), and his research has appeared in the ILR Review, Theory and Society, and China Quarterly, among others. Dr. Friedman teaches courses on China, Asia, labor, and global development and regularly leads a doctoral seminar in labor sociology. He also serves as faculty advisor for the Cornell Labor Action Tracker, the most comprehensive database of U.S. strike activity.
Yun Zhou
Yun Zhou is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan. Trained as a social demographer, Dr. Zhou’s research examines inequality and state-market-family relations through the lens of gender, marriage, and fertility. Intersecting the studies of population and politics, her current project investigates the demographic, political, and gendered consequences of China’s evolving reproductive governance. Dr. Zhou received her B.A. in Urdu Literature from Peking University (2011), during which time she lived and studied for a year in Islamabad, Pakistan. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University in 2017. In addition to her academic publications, Dr. Zhou’s research and commentary have been featured in The BBC, The Guardian, The New York Time, NPR, Reuters, The Washington Post, among others.
Moderator
Andrew Liu
Andrew Liu is an associate professor of history at Villanova University, specializing in modern China, South and East Asia, political economy, and global history. His first book, Tea War: A History of Capitalism in China and India, was published by Yale University Press in 2020. He is also a Public Intellectuals Program fellow at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
