Shenzhen Lays Off 50,000 Workers as E-cigarette Restrictions Tighten Globally

China’s e-cigarette industry has laid off an estimated 50,000 people, or roughly 10 percent of its workforce, since October, according to the Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee.

The decline comes in the wake of tightening regulations in the United States and China, along with heightened media scrutiny of the sector worldwide.

One manager at a brand that launched this year said sales dropped 60 percent after China banned online sales of vapor products in November.

Approximately 90 percent of the world’s e-cigarettes are manufactured in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where the vapor industry employs about half a million people.