The intersection is quiet at 4 a.m., but not as quiet as one might expect. Fluorescent light radiates from all-night breakfast stalls. People, mostly men, loiter in small groups on the sidewalk, silently eating steamed buns. Everyone seems to be waiting.

Around 4:30, the first rays of sun appear, and it becomes clear what everyone was waiting for.

Job recruiters ride up on electric scooters and, without getting off, start shouting out day rates — 170 yuan! 180! (That’s about $25.) The early risers swarm around them to hear what’s on offer: gigs pouring concrete on construction sites, or packaging bottled drinks, or cleaning buildings. From cheap dormitories nearby, more workers, men and women, stream out. By the time the sun is up, this intersection in Majuqiao, a neighborhood on the southern outskirts of Beijing, is full of hundreds of people.

This is Beijing’s largest day labor market, where people from around the country gather every morning for a chance at a hard day’s work. The lucky ones are whisked off in minivans, some with their own hard hats or mops in tow. The unlucky ones keep waiting for the next recruiter, or they go home. By 8 a.m., the crowd has already thinned — people’s fates, at least for that day, decided.

Scenes like this have been unfolding for decades across China, as workers have flocked from the countryside to cities, powering the country’s rise. The markets are places for new arrivals to find a foothold and begin working for a better life. “If you run into hard times, go to Majuqiao,” says a well-known expression in Beijing.

But China’s economy is slowing. And there seem to be more hard times than Majuqiao can handle.

The real estate market is struggling, so construction sites are hiring fewer people and paying them less. Factories want younger and more specialized workers. That means many older laborers are being left out in the cold.