Auction puts spotlight on nannies
Print Edition
Around 40 families showed up at an unusual auction in east China’s Shandong Province, to bid for the services of eight nannies.
Sunday’s event in Jinan City was organized to focus public attention on the growing demand of the domestic service industry and attract more workers. The nanny services were sold for monthly wages ranging from 15,500 yuan (over US$2,500) to 5,200 yuan.
The domestic service industry reemerged in the 1990s when urban Chinese families could afford to hire staff, including maids and nannies. Since then, the industry has become an important part of urban family life.
Tian Hua, director of Shandong Tiangong Human Resource Service Center, believes that demand for home helps will grow along with the economy, urbanization and the relaxed birth control policy. A bigger urban population and higher living standards mean people are paying attention to the quality of their family life, he said, especially care for the eldest and youngest family members.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, urbanization reached 53.7 percent last year — some 730 million people.
Wan Zhong, director of Shandongdasao domestic service training, hopes the new birth control policy will push up the demand for his trainees.
In December 2013, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the top legislature, approved the decision to allow couples to have two children if one of the parents is an only child. The policy is already running in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces.
Demand for domestics has led to a shortage in many parts of the country. In big cities, the income of a well qualified nanny is usually above 10,000 yuan, and according to a report by employment analysts zhaopin.com, the median monthly income for white-collar workers in Beijing is 5,453 yuan. The National Bureau of Statistics reckon the percentage of migrant workers working as domestics decreased from 12.7 percent in 2010 to 12.2 percent in 2012.
To increase the workforce, conditions must be improved. Many are not provided with pensions and medical insurance, Tian Hua said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
