- Title: CHINA: China's migrants feel employment squeeze
- Date: 22nd February 2009
- Summary: FUYANG, ANHUI PROVINCE, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) PASSENGERS ENTERING FUYANG TRAIN STATION STAFF CHECKING TICKETS PASSENGERS WAITING IN QUEUE PASSENGERS WAITING OUTSIDE OF ENTRANCE GATE TO TRAIN STATION POLICEMEN IN CROWD DIRECTING PEOPLE PASSENGERS SITTING ON THE GROUND OUTSIDE TRAIN STATION WOMAN AND BOY SITTING ON THE GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 19-YEAR-OLD SHEN RUIH
- Embargoed: 9th March 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA9KL4LMG3WEK5M7D3LQ3EU7T8C
- Story Text: China's job squeeze puts pressure on rural migrant workers trying to find employment in urban areas, but most are loathe to retreat to their farms.
China's migrant workers are out in force again.
This time, they are crowding the train stations of their home provinces to embark on the long trip back to factory towns and construction sites after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Accompanying their tired bodies and heavy luggage this year is a mood of increased uncertainty.
The global financial crisis has sent China's exports plunging, closed factories along the country's once-booming east coast, and halted the construction of glossy new property developments.
After years of breakneck economic growth, China reported growth of just
8 percent in the fourth quarter last year compared with a year earlier.
A senior official said this month that about 20 million rural migrants have already lost work as the nation's economy has slowed, and some economists think that number may double.
Despite the grim economic outlook, tens of millions of migrant workers are still leaving their small plots of hardscrabble land to seek riches, or at least a decent wage.
The reality is especially stark in China's inland provinces, with many of those who have lost jobs still bent on travelling back to coastal towns to find employment.
Some, like 19-year-old Shen Ruihong, have pinned hopes on their network of friends and family to help find them jobs.
"I feel that Dongguan is better. I'm not very familiar with this place so I'm going to Dongguan, also my older sister can help me to find a job at a factory there," said Shen Ruihong as she waited in Fuyang for her train headed for Dongguan in the southern Guangzhou province.
In Fuyang (pron: foo-yang), local media estimate that the inland city in central Anhui (pron: anne-hwee) province has about 2 million migrant workers out of its 9 million population.
The city's main labour market is filled with job seekers every day.
Migrant workers stand shoulder to shoulder with university graduates, all looking for jobs that seem to be in a short supply.
Here, there is the added problem of a skill mismatch, as the majority of jobs offered are for service staff, while most migrant workers are more attuned to working in factories or on construction sites.
"The chances for my development here are comparatively limited.
Most of the jobs are for salesmen and so on. I feel it's not very suitable for me. And in terms of the salary, it is not very high in Fuyang," said 23-year-old He Desheng (pron: her-der-sheng), who used to work for an electronics factory in Suzhou in eastern Jiangsu province.
Twenty-eight-year-old Li Qiang, who used to work as a cook in Nanjing in the eastern Jiangsu province, has been trying to find work locally since the end of the Lunar New Year holidays this month.
"After lots of people came back, they realized that looking for jobs outside is not easy, therefore they decided to stay in their hometowns to look for jobs.
This is making it more difficult for us to find a job here in the inland provinces," said Li Qiang.
In Zhengzhou (pron: geeang-djou), capital of central Henan province, the situation has been even more dire.
Long lines of migrants, mainly men in rumpled suits, snake down the street of a makeshift job market just a few minutes' walk from the city's train station.
Each one stands over a hand-painted sign advertising their job skills, but few employers could be found among the crowd.
"I feel it's difficult to find a job this year. You see, there are no employers here. How can it be easy to find a job?" said 40-year-old Liu Huachun (pron: leew-hwa-choon), who used to work on a construction site.
Provincial governments have been trying find ways to ease problem.
Henan has been using a two-pronged approach: providing more information to migrants about where there are urban jobs to be found, while also encouraging them to start their own, largely agricultural businesses in the countryside.
But as the job squeeze tightens in this economic downturn, hopes for a breakthrough are not high this year.
And many migrants are unwilling to consider the alternative of returning to work in the parched farmlands of central China.
Beijing, concerned that city streets could become breeding grounds for disappointed, unemployed men, is hoping many will stay back in the countryside, and is offering funds and training to villagers to start small companies or invest in farming.
There are few workers to be found in one village on the outskirts of Fuyang.
Those who are staying are men like 23-year-old Zhou Qingang (pron: djou-ching-gang), who have acquired skills that would help them make a living in the countryside.
"Now the salary over there (in coastal provinces) is not very high, but the cost of living there is high. By taking away the money I pay for rental and food, I earn around 80 to 90 yuan a day. I'd rather work at home.
It's more convenient here, and I have a guarantee for my living. At least I don't need to buy food," said Zhou, who is hoping to set up a business to refurbish rural houses in his hometown.
Beijing is hoping other potential migrants will think like Zhou easing the pressure on the urban labour market.
But China's striking rural-urban income gap means that many may be unwilling to stay at home.
China's rural residents had an average per-capita income of 4,761 yuan last year, 3.3 times less than their urban counterparts.
The gap steadily widened during the country's past decade of scorching growth, from 2.5 times in 1997.
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