Employers scramble as labor force shrinks
Source: Xinhua |
February 27, 2013, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINESE low-cost manufacturers are trying various ways to retain workers and attract new ones after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Factory workers, mostly rural migrants, usually go home for the traditional holiday. But many take advantage of the break to find better jobs.
The labor shortage comes as the economic recovery looks like it will worsen the problem.
Also, China's labor force between the age of 15 and 59 shrank by 3.5 million last year. It is the first time the country has recorded an absolute drop in the working-age population in "a considerable period of time," Ma Jiantang, National Bureau of Statistics director, said last month.
Companies have raised salaries or offered financial incentives in an attempt to retain workers.
"Although the whole industry is still mired in gloom, we still plan to raise the workers' salary by 10 percent this year," said Tian Chengjie, vice president of Silverman Holdings Ltd, a textile company in Zibo of eastern Shandong Province.
In a bid to get workers back, some companies chose to pay year-end bonuses after the holiday. Some promised a reward of 1,000 yuan (US$160) for each year of their service. Some companies promised rewards of hundreds of yuan if staff members brought along new workers. Some even offered hundreds of yuan to workers' parents.
However, for many employees higher pay is not enough.
Increasingly, migrants, especially the younger generation, demand respect and good working conditions.
Executives at Orans Co Ltd, in Taizhou in Zhejiang Province, lined up at its factory gates and bowed when staff returned to work on Monday, the first day after the Lantern Festival.
The respect the executives showed won praise from netizens.
"This should not be seen as a mere show. You can only make fortunes by showing respect to the labor force," wrote a netizen under the name of "Yunjianwei" on Weibo.
Many employees have chosen to work near their hometowns in the central and western regions as many companies have relocated there in response to the country's industrial restructuring in coastal areas.
Wan Zhong, president of Wanjia Shengshi Human Resources Co Ltd in Jinan, capital of Shandong, said, "The labor shortage could prompt low-cost manufacturers to accelerate industrial restructuring and upgrading as well as offer workers better conditions."
Factory workers, mostly rural migrants, usually go home for the traditional holiday. But many take advantage of the break to find better jobs.
The labor shortage comes as the economic recovery looks like it will worsen the problem.
Also, China's labor force between the age of 15 and 59 shrank by 3.5 million last year. It is the first time the country has recorded an absolute drop in the working-age population in "a considerable period of time," Ma Jiantang, National Bureau of Statistics director, said last month.
Companies have raised salaries or offered financial incentives in an attempt to retain workers.
"Although the whole industry is still mired in gloom, we still plan to raise the workers' salary by 10 percent this year," said Tian Chengjie, vice president of Silverman Holdings Ltd, a textile company in Zibo of eastern Shandong Province.
In a bid to get workers back, some companies chose to pay year-end bonuses after the holiday. Some promised a reward of 1,000 yuan (US$160) for each year of their service. Some companies promised rewards of hundreds of yuan if staff members brought along new workers. Some even offered hundreds of yuan to workers' parents.
However, for many employees higher pay is not enough.
Increasingly, migrants, especially the younger generation, demand respect and good working conditions.
Executives at Orans Co Ltd, in Taizhou in Zhejiang Province, lined up at its factory gates and bowed when staff returned to work on Monday, the first day after the Lantern Festival.
The respect the executives showed won praise from netizens.
"This should not be seen as a mere show. You can only make fortunes by showing respect to the labor force," wrote a netizen under the name of "Yunjianwei" on Weibo.
Many employees have chosen to work near their hometowns in the central and western regions as many companies have relocated there in response to the country's industrial restructuring in coastal areas.
Wan Zhong, president of Wanjia Shengshi Human Resources Co Ltd in Jinan, capital of Shandong, said, "The labor shortage could prompt low-cost manufacturers to accelerate industrial restructuring and upgrading as well as offer workers better conditions."
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