In today's China Daily:
chinadaily.com.cn
SHANGHAI - The labor shortage in coastal cities that was predicted before the Chinese New Year holidays has now arrived and is more severe than anyone expected, according to employers who say they are scrambling to find enough workers.
"In the past, we were able to attract migrant workers with our high salaries but 50 percent of our workers did not return from the holidays this year due to the development of inland cities," said Xiang Suming, the owner of Taizhou Zhonghe Shoe Co Ltd in Taizhou city, Zhejiang province.
Xiang said 90 percent of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the city could fail to finish overseas orders because they cannot find enough workers.
Zhang Wenhua, the owner of Jiangsu Longda Mechanical Equipment Co Ltd in Jiangsu province, is also struggling to find enough workers. "I've raised my workers' monthly incomes by 20 percent and will increase them by another 10 percent in October," Zhang said. But despite the rising salaries, only about half of his workforce had returned by Thursday.
According to statistics released by the transportation department in Shanghai, the number of migrant workers returning to the city from Sichuan and Anhui provinces fell this week by 10,000 a day compared to last year.
While small companies are struggling to find workers in coastal cities, Quanzhou in Fujian province, which is the base for many brand-name businesses, is enticing workers through its improved working conditions.
"We haven't seen much of a labor shortage here yet," said Chen Lanbo, a manager at Huatai Technology, a sound system producer in Quanzhou. "At least 70 percent of our employees have returned to their posts and more are expected after the Lantern Festival." |
