Not paying the wages of farmers-turned-workers on time has become a chronic problem. So severe is the problem that in 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao intervened personally to get a migrant worker her arrear wages.

The central and local government have indeed taken measures to solve the problem. But there is no denying that it is becoming more complicated by the day.

From 2006 to 2010, the total arrears due to migrant workers decreased. In February 2011, China's top legislative body adopted the amendment to the criminal law, which was aimed at making deliberate defaulting on wages a crime. But the number of such cases in 2012 increased from the year before.