Perhaps not a great deal of news for those of us in the law biz, particularly folks that had to deal with the new Labor Contract Law. On the other hand, the economic crisis during the latter part of the year did create a bit of a perfect storm for labor disputes.

From AFP:

The number of labour-related law suits nearly doubled in China last year as layoffs spiked due to the global economic crisis, while a new employment law also kept the courts busy, state media reported Tuesday.

The number of lawsuits triggered by labour disputes across the country surged by 95 percent in 2008 from 2007, the China Daily said, citing Shen Deyong, vice president of the Supreme People's Court.

Lawsuits nearly tripled in some eastern and southern coastal cities during the period, Shen said according to the report, which did not give actual figures for 2007 or 2008.

Shen said the drastic increase was partly due to companies taking cost-cutting measures in their struggle to pull through the financial crisis, the paper said.

"Many companies fired employees, cut salaries and bonuses, or encouraged staff to take leave without pay to cut costs in face of the economic downturn. That caused many disputes," Shen said.

Official figures showed at least 20 million migrant workers had lost their jobs amid a wave of factory closures in China as foreign demand weakened.

Some companies also cut jobs in response to higher labour costs due to the Labour Contract Law, which took effect from January 1, 2008, providing another reason for rising employment disputes, the paper said.

It would be very interesting to see the numbers broken down by month. I wonder if that would reflect an early trend of disputes having to do with the new law, and disputes toward the end of the year (much heavier, of course) dealing primarily with the economic trend.

Also on my wish list would be a geographical breakdown. Wanna bet that disputes in the latter half of the year spiked in Guangdong and other light manufacturing regions?