In addition, the skewed perception that domestic workers were inferior made young people and even the middle-aged hesitant to work in that field.

"On the other hand, some orders surge significantly before Spring Festival and drop dramatically afterward, causing only a temporary employment gap," he said.

China's tradition of Spring Festival family reunions and the relatively long holiday — eight days this year — promised to bring about a service sector boom.

By late January, travel bookings from Lunar New Year's Eve to the eighth day of the lunar calendar were seven times higher than during the same period last year, according to Meituan and Dazhongdianping, two popular e-commerce platforms for services.

As for the manufacturing industry, Guo predicted a continuation of the regular seasonal rise in demand for festival-related products such as clothing, fireworks and decorations domestically, with the biggest growth in foreign demand to be for new energy vehicles.