This is one major reason, why the Chinese are dumping manufacturing goods on the entire planets' economies. They can't afford to reduce production levels at their factories any further, or they go bankrupt.
But the population is aging and shrinking, so they just produce and export at a loss.
They built crazy-gigantic factories, to lower cost/item, but the math doesn't check out.
And here's the thing: you can quickly lay off workers, in an economic downturn, or just stop hiring and allow for natural attrition to whittle down the workforce.
But you're stuck with the machines, and nobody will want to buy them because they also have machines they want to sell.
