China Adds Two Days of Paid Statutory Holidays

The Chinese government has increased benefits for employees by entitling them to two additional days of paid statutory holiday leave starting in 2025. These two additional paid statutory holidays will extend both the Chinese New Year holiday and Labor Day (May 1) holiday by one day.

Starting January 1, 2025, the Chinese government will introduce two additional days of paid statutory holidays, bringing the total to 13 days per year from the current 11. This move marks an effort to enhance work-life balance, boost domestic tourism and consumption, and provide workers additional time to travel as both of the newly added days will extend other preexisting holidays.

Pursuant to the State Council’s Decision on Amending the Measures for National Annual Holidays and Memorial Days issued on November 12, 2024, the paid statutory holidays for Chinese New Year (also known as “Spring Festival”) will increase from three days to four days (adding Chinese New Year’s Eve as part of the paid holiday) and the paid statutory holidays for Labor Day will increase from one day to two days (adding May 2 as part of the paid holiday).

China has had a relatively low statutory holiday allowance compared with other major economies. These newly added holidays aim to alleviate some of the pressure on workers, particularly migrant workers. One of the most significant issues with China’s holiday system is the clustering of vacations around national festivals, such as Chinese New Year and National Day (October 1–3), when many millions of people take to the roads, railways, and skies to travel back to their hometowns to celebrate the holiday. The mass migration can create a highly stressful experience for employees as they battle overbooked transport systems and increased ticket prices, while balancing whether and how they can take additional time off around these holidays.

The additional day off for Chinese New Year’s Eve now results in a total of eight consecutive days off of work for employees (as a public holiday, Chinese people will get January 28 through February 4, 2025 off) and is a meaningful step toward alleviating some of this pressure for employees. Notably, the practice of adjusting weekend days as regular working days will continue, and January 26, 2025 and February 8, 2025 will both be regular working days to allow the Spring Festival to be eight consecutive days.