Source: CCTV.com

02-04-2009 11:49

Guangdong Province predicts that fewer migrant workers will return to the manufacturing and export hub after the Spring Festival holiday, but more will find it difficult to find a good job.

The Bureau of Labor and Social Security of Guangdong province said on Tuesday that more than 10 million migrant workers left the southern province for their inland hometowns before the Chinese New Year, and over 3 million have returned so far. More are expected to return during the next fortnight, but not all of those who had left.

Guangdong Province predicts that fewer migrant workers will return to the manufacturing and export hub after the Spring Festival holiday, but more will find it difficult to find a good job.
Guangdong Province predicts that fewer migrant workers will return
to the manufacturing and export hub after the Spring Festival 
holiday, but more will find it difficult to find a good job.

Gan Wenchuan, Employment Service, Guangdong Bureau of Labor & Social Sec., "migrant workers to Guangdong will come back gradually. By the mid of February, we expect the total number to be around 9.7 million, 6 percent less than the number of workers that left for holiday before the Spring Festival."

Although migrant workers will return to Guangdong, many don't have a job. Authorities predict over two million people are still looking for employment. They are mainly laid off-workers, newcomers and those looking for a change.

But for those people, only 1.9 million jobs are available in the province in the first quarter. The demand in the job market is well below the supply because of the economic meltdown. The situation will be harder when tens of thousands of college graduates join the job-seeking army in the second quarter. Those farmers-turned-workers without professional skills will find that their prospect of a good job is particularly dim.

Guangdong's labor authority says it will encourage non-professionals to seek jobs in traditional service industries, like wholesale, retail and hospitality.

These sectors are much less impacted by the global financial crisis than export-oriented manufacturing industries. In fact, job demand in the service sector increased by five percentage points in the first quarter, creating 600-thousand jobs in the province to accommodate 30 percent of the job-seekers.

Government authorities will help hold 10-thousand job fairs throughout 2009 to provide sufficient information and opportunities for job-seekers.

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Editor:Qin Yongjing