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Financial crisis forces migrants back home for work

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-09 17:19

BEIJING  -- The migrant worker knew little about the "financial storm" that has swept the world. The only thing he was worried about was where was he going to find his next job.

Several days ago, 30-year-old Cai Haihua from rural area of east China's Jiangxi province was a worker in a small factory making machinery parts in the booming Zhejiang Province. After months with few orders, the factory decided to close one of the production lines and asked its more than 40 workers to do shift work with less working hours.

Although not laid off, Cai saw his salary reduced from 1,700 yuan (US$250) to less than 600 (US$88).

He has planned to seek a job in hometown.

"I could find something to do (to earn money) anyway," he said.

For a similar reason, 33-year-old Yu Yuanhua from the Guangfeng county of Jiangxi quit her job in a clothes factory in Cixi of Zhejiang a month ago, where she had worked for about five years.

She tried to change her company there, but it is hard because labor supply exceeded the demand.

As a result, both Cai and Yu are among the migrants returning home amid the financial crisis that closed or affected a large number of Chinese companies.

Currently, there is no official number as to how many migrants returned to their hometowns in the financial crisis, but according to statistics released by some provincial governments, the "home rush" is of no small scale.

In east China's Jiangxi Province with 6.8 million farmers working outside the province, 300,000 returned home. In Anhui, the numbers are 8.2 million and 400,000 while in Hubei, 7 million and 700,000.

Although it is still more than one month to go before the annual "spring transportation", many railway stations were already full of migrants.

"Starting from last month, the number of passengers from Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian increased," said Qi Guijin, who worked in the railway station of Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi. The provinces he mentioned are in affluent east and south China.

"Such a homebound wave of people, if not handled properly, could lead to social problems," said an editorial in the Guangdong-based Zhujiang Evening News.

It cited the statistics by the National Development and Reform Commission showed that in the first six month this year, 67,000 small or medium-sized companies closed. In the second half of 2008, more followed suit. It is not known about the percentage of migrant workers in such companies, but the editorial believed that such a large number of closures would affect many migrant workers.

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