China's domestic helper agency warns against labour shortage trouble amid population decline

The agency blames the country's declining population as the reason behind the situation.

Chen Xiaohua, founder and CEO of the agency also known as 58 Daojia, told a digital economy forum hosted by Alibaba Group Holding’s Luohan Academy in Hangzhou on Wednesday that it will be increasingly hard to find enough domestic helpers as the labour base shrinks and Chinese millennials are reluctant to work in such jobs, reports South China Morning Post.

“Decline in population is a big concern,” Chen said. “Ten years from now, it’ll be hard to find those born in the 1990s or 2000s [willing] to work as Ayi,” Chen said, using a Chinese phrase for domestic helper.

“Those who can afford domestic services [in China] today should feel lucky, as it is [going to be] more difficult and expensive to hire a domestic helper [a decade] from now,” he said.