Authorities help firms fill labor shortages
Print Edition
Spring is usually peak hiring season in China, but this year’s coronavirus outbreak has disrupted the pace of recruiting, especially for college graduates, and stranded a large number of migrant workers in the country’s west, resulting in labor shortages in some eastern regions.
In order to mitigate the impact on employment, China has begun taking measures to enhance job creation, facilitate the employment of rural migrant workers and college graduates, and address challenges facing small and household businesses.
In 2019, China had 290 million rural migrant workers, with 75 million working outside their home provinces. These migrants are among the epidemic’s hardest-hit workers.
To organize migrant workers and resume production following the prolonged Lunar New Year holiday, authorities across China have arranged chartered vehicles to take workers from their homes directly to factories.
Last week, a chartered plane with more than 140 migrant workers from the city of Tongren in the southwestern province of Guizhou transported them to Kunshan, a manufacturing city in east China’s Jiangsu Province.
Wang Jianqiang, general manager of Kunshan Q Technology, said the company has received 70 percent more March orders than last year. However, he was uncertain it could deliver products on time due to labor shortages stemming from the epidemic.
Once local authorities realized companies’ urgent labor needs, they set out to locate workers to fill the vacancies.
“We worked with related departments in Tongren to dispatch more than 700 workers to Kunshan, half of whom are poverty stricken, with free flight and railway services,” said Liu Ping, a local official in Kunshan.
Liu added the measure can both help workers acquire jobs and ease labor shortages in Kunshan.
“More importantly, it develops a talent pool for the future industrial shift from the well-developed east to the less-developed west,” he said.
Authorities in many regions are also helping rural workers secure jobs in their hometowns.
In the city of Huai’an in northern Jiangsu Province, the local government announced a slew of measures, such as introducing jobs and employment subsidies to encourage migrants to work in their hometowns.
After a series of online-employment procedures, Zhou Dongxia landed a job at a local hat manufacturing factory with a monthly salary of 4,000 yuan (US$577).
Zhou worked in a Shanghai cable factory last year but was stranded at home after Spring Festival. Fortunately, the hat factory began recruiting workers, especially returned migrants like Zhou.
“Now I can work and look after my family at the same time,” Zhou said.
In the epidemic epicenter, Hubei Province, businesses are working hard to resume production and provide more jobs.
Until the epidemic ends, Kanghong Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs in Huanggang is providing an extra daily subsidy of 100 yuan for every contract worker. Eighty percent of its contract workers have returned to work and another 32 temporary workers have been hired.
Yu Xibing, a business manager with Kanghong, said despite a 60-percent rise in operation costs, the company will take on greater social responsibility and provide more job opportunities.
Large companies can withstand the impact of the epidemic over a long period, but small and medium-sized firms are more vulnerable.
According to a survey of more than 6,000 small and medium-sized companies conducted by the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, nearly 70 percent respondents said their operating incomes decreased during the epidemic, and nearly 90 percent said their business operation funds would likely not last more than three months if the contagion continues.
The Chinese government introduced new policies, including subsidies and tax exemptions, to help companies.
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