Plants concerned about return of migrant workers

Companies are having to introduce better pay incentives as increasing number of employees are failing to return to work after Spring Festival.

"We had more than 20 workers but only half of them have come back after the holiday," a worried Cheng Xuepeng, general manager of a wood factory in Shanghai's Pudong New Area, told China Daily on Tuesday.

He is just one of many bosses of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the eastern coastal region waiting for migrant workers to return from holiday and family reunion.

In Qianshi Shoe Manufacturing Center, a production unit of Zhejiang-based shoe giant Aokang Group, about 80 percent of the employees had returned to work by Monday. But this compared to more than 95 percent in previous years, according to Zhou Baixian, deputy general manager of the factory.

"The overcast and rainy weather could be to blame," Zhou added. "We hope more people will return later this week."

Cheng in the Shanghai factory said it is becoming harder to find workers despite offering 300 yuan ($47) a month more than last year.

"Migrant workers didn't argue about pay and welfare in the past, but now it's the first thing they ask," he said.

The Aokang Group has already introduced measures to prevent staff loss at this time.

"The gift money for those who return to work on time is around 1,000 yuan. Moreover, we offer a cash award from 100 yuan to 600 yuan for those who return and introduce their fellow farmers to the factory," said Zhou at the business in Zhejiang.

At Shenyang Luyuan labor market, the largest of its kind in Liaoning province, the turnover of migrant workers on Tuesday was 20 percent less than this time last year.

Lu Wenxue, director of the market, said this was because higher wages were now being offered to attract younger and more skilled migrants. He advised migrants born in the 1980s and 1990s to gain skills before entering the market.

Li Wei, 31, is expecting wages between 1,500-2,000 yuan per month for a job in Shenyang. Otherwise, he said he could go to South China to earn more.

In South China's Guangdong province, a major manufacturing hub in the south, a growing number of businesses are also facing a shortage of laborers after the Spring Festival.

"Only 30 percent of workers have returned," said Lin Wei, general manager of Big Tree Toys Co based in Shantou.

Lin, whose company had 150 workers last year, said the shortage of laborers could seriously affect their business this year.

"We will have to cancel some big overseas orders if not enough workers return soon," he said.

Sources with Guangdong provincial human resource and social security authorities predicted about 90 percent of migrant workers would return after Spring Festival.

"But I am not optimistic," said Lin. "Migrant workers now have more choices to work in their home provinces."