China's migrant workers -- usually rural residents who travel to
the cities to find work -- numbered about 99 million in 2003.
Still, in 2004 Guangdong,
Fujian
and Zhejiang
provinces began to suffer from a shortage of labor.
In the middle of 2004, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security
(MOLSS) sent teams to the three provinces to look into the problem.
It also directed several labor-providing provinces like Anhui,
Sichuan,
Jiangxi
and Hunan
to investigate from their end. The ministry completed its report in
September.
It confirmed that shortages of migrant workers did exist in some
areas, with young female workers particularly scarce. Enterprises
offering low wages and bad working conditions, or where work is
physically challenging, were having the greatest problems.
Of the three provinces investigated, Guangdong was suffering the
greatest shortage even though it employed some 19 million migrant
workers, most of them in the Pearl River Delta region. The local
labor department estimates that nearly 2 million more workers are
needed in the province.
Labor-intensive enterprises, which usually offer low wages for
hard work in bad conditions, are feeling the pinch rather
painfully. Those whose monthly wages are below 700 yuan (US$85) are
also having recruiting problems.
A MOLSS official says that the worker shortage began to appear
two or three years ago, but was sufficiently isolated to escape
attention until 2004.
Shoemakers, toy makers, electronics assembly plants, garment
factories and plastic manufacturers face fierce competition. To
keep customers coming they must set their prices low, and to expand
their profit margins they try to cut labor costs.
Employees in these enterprises work at least 10 to 12 hours each
day for a monthly salary of just 600 to 700 yuan (US$72.50 to
84.50). To prevent job-hopping, the companies usually take the
workers' ID cards or withhold a month or two of wages. Policies
like these make it difficult to recruit employees.
The MOLSS report notes that the worker shortage is a result of
market adjustment rather than policy issues. Companies offering
monthly wages -- including overtime pay -- below 700 yuan have
difficulty finding anyone to hire. Those that pay 700 to 1,000 yuan
(US$84.50 to 120.80) per month have trouble recruiting skilled
technicians, but no problems hiring line employees. Those offering
more than 1,000 yuan per month have no recruitment problems at
all.
The migrant worker shortage is the natural result of
manipulation of the workers' pay, said Long Yongtu,
secretary-general of the Boao Forum for Asia, in November.
The World Manufacturing Association reported in 2003 that the
hourly wage for Chinese manufacturing workers was only a quarter
those of Mexico and Malaysia and a mere one-fortieth those in the
US and Japan.
Rural migrant workers in southeast China, in interviews with
Caijing magazine, said that they hope to work for a
maximum of 10 hours each day and earn a minimum of 600 yuan
(US$72.50) per month. But even those humble requests are not
satisfied.
China's Labor Law limits work hours to 40 each week, with
overtime work each month not to exceed 36 hours. Overtime on
regular workdays, rest days and official holidays is to be
compensated at one and a half times, two times and three
times normal wages, respectively. But employees in some southeast
China companies are required to work 130 hours of overtime each
month with no extra pay. Many workers have no rest days or
holidays.
At the end of last year, Shenzhen, a city in Guangdong Province
adjacent to Hong Kong, found that 653 enterprises -- 40 percent of
the total -- had defaulted on wage payments. The total amount in
arrears was over 100 million yuan (US$12 million) and involved
hundreds of thousands of employees.
Bad conditions, excessive overtime, no contracts and no social
security are a recipe for job-hopping. Nearly 10 percent of the
workers in Dongguan, another industrial boomtown in Guangdong, are
estimated to leave for other jobs annually, while the proportions
in the textile and toy sectors are as high as 20 percent.
Female workers between the ages of 18 and 25 and skilled workers
are in extremely short supply. Young people are considered
energetic and often without domestic obligations, so they can
endure long hours. Women workers, it is believed, have lively minds
and deft hands. They are considered to be more obedient to
management. These characteristics make them much sought-after in
the processing and manufacturing sectors.
National family planning policies are also having an effect. The
abundant labor force of the 1990s was a result of the baby boom in
the 1960s and early 1970s. The one-child policy implemented since
the late 1970s has taken a toll on the labor supply, especially in
the 18-to-25 group.
The technician shortage is a problem that spreads far beyond the
southeastern manufacturing centers. Through a questionnaire
distributed in 40 cities nationwide in April 2004, the MOLSS
found that technicians and senior technicians account for less than
4 percent of total skilled workers. Employers believe the
proportion should be above 14 percent.
"One of the major reasons for the skilled worker shortage is the
current educational system, which emphasizes academic degrees but
ignores skill training," the MOLSS pointed out in a report.
Currently, there are over 200 vocational schools nationwide,
ostensibly to train senior skilled workers. But these schools have
small budgets, limited enrollment and obsolete equipment, making it
virtually impossible to train enough technicians to meet the robust
demand.
The companies themselves do little to correct the problem. The
MOLSS found that in 2003, average expenditure on training per
employee was only 195 yuan (US$23.50). The total input is only 1.4
percent of the total wage bill, less than the minimum of 1.5
percent required by government regulation.
In the first half of 2004, the MOLSS conducted a survey of more
than 2,000 enterprises in 26 cities nationwide. Rural migrant
workers accounted for 59.8 percent of employees nationwide. In
central and western China, they made up 43 percent of the
workforce; in the Pan-Bohai Sea region, 49 percent; and 59 percent
in the Yangtze River Delta region. But the proportions leapt to 74
percent in the Pearl River Delta region and 71 percent in
southeastern Fujian Province. Rural migrant workers are inarguably
a major force.
Guo Hong, a researcher at the Sichuan Provincial Academy of
Social Sciences, believes that mechanisms that separate the nation
into urban and rural sectors and the resulting unequal social
status exacerbate the problem. Basically, city folks are treated by
nationally accepted standards; country people are not.
"Those who cannot enjoy equal treatment vote with their feet.
That is the fundamental cause for the migrant worker shortage,"
said Guo.
The southeast was the first to develop when China embarked on
its economic reforms, but rural laborers now have more choices.
Many who once worked in the Pearl River or Yangtze River delta
regions are now moving to inland provinces like Jiangxi and
Anhui.
And the employers are beginning to follow the workers. For
example, an underwear manufacturer based in Shenzhen has now set up
a factory in Jiangxi, recruiting over 6,000 workers. Although the
salary is a little lower than in its Guangdong operation, so are
costs of living, and many employees are able to live at or near
their own homes.
The shortage that began to appear last year is the result of the
ages-old game between labor and management, and an indicator of
market forces at work. China's factory workers and laborers have
begun to understand that they now have bargaining power, and the
days of unfair exploitation appear to be numbered.
(China.org.cn by Tang Fuchun, January 14, 2005)