The shortage of working-age rural laborers is spreading from the
nation's coastal areas to inland, a survey report by the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences shows.
Out of 2,794 villages investigated in the nationwide survey,
74.3 percent of them no longer have a surplus of young laborers as
all had left for the cities for work.
Only a quarter of the villages said they had some young laborers
remaining.
Although some areas were suffering from a shortage of rural
laborers, the nation's overall supply of those workers was still
greater than demand, the report found.
The report said the decline was a result of the nation's falling
fertility rate.
Thirty years since the implementation of the family planning
policy, China's total fertility rate has dropped to 1.7, lower than
the "replacement level" of 2.1, the report said.
It projected that the total rural labor force would not be able
to satisfy the demand from non-agricultural sectors by 2010.
Han Jun, a researcher with the State Council Development
Research Center and a writer of the report, said the shrinking
rural labor force could result in a new labor-management
relationship.
He said the government should speed up legislation to protect
workers' interests and rights and encourage enterprises to treat
their employees better.
Liu Fuhe, spokesman for the State Council Office of Poverty
Alleviation and Development, said the so-called "shortage" of
migrant workers did not really exist.
The report merely highlights a trend in worker movements.
"Some areas are short of migrant workers because they have
failed to provide good enough working conditions and benefits," Liu
said.
"As a result, many migrant workers voted with their feet and
chose to move to work in other areas."
South China's Guangdong Province, which has witnessed a
shrinking laborer workforce in recent years, had only increased the
monthly wage for migrant workers by 27 yuan (US$3.50) in the past
20 years.
He suggested the governments and enterprises review their
treatment on migrant workers.
"They should take actions to improve migrant workers' benefits
and protect their rights so as to attract a big enough labor
force," he said.
(China Daily June 23, 2007)