"After a while that work makes your mind numb," said the 32-year-old, who quit the production lines some years ago and now makes a living selling milk formula and doing scooter deliveries for a supermarket in Shenzhen, China's southern tech hub.And smaller manufacturers say large investments in automation technology are either unaffordable or imprudent when rising inflation and borrowing costs are curbing demand in China's key export markets.Klaus Zenkel, who chairs the European Chamber of Commerce in South China, moved to the region about two decades ago, when university graduates were less than one-tenth this year's numbers and the economy as a whole was about 15 times smaller in current U.S. dollar terms.Zenkel said China’s breakneck economic growth in recent years had lifted the aspirations of younger generations, who now see his line of work as increasingly unattractive.He is "just thinking about how to survive this moment," he said, adding he expected to lay off 15% of his 200 workers even as he still wanted younger muscles on his assembly lines."