Applicants line up at an employment market in Longhua to apply for jobs with Foxconn Technology Group. (Photo: China Daily)
However, it seems the tide is turning. Local authorities are cracking down on illegal labor recruitment, and land-hungry developers have set their sights on Longhua. Now, working in cities around Shenzhen appears to be losing its allure among migrant workers who have to choose between heading home and hanging on.
"This winter, Longhua has become a whole lot quieter as the city planners clamped down on an illegal web of job recruitment in Sanhe and renovated nearby urban villages," said Fang Zhaozhao, a longtime Longhua resident. "This may be just the tip of the iceberg."
Longhua is at the mercy of change as Shenzhen evolves beyond its manufacturing roots and looks to high-tech industries and the high-end service economy for future growth. For unskilled workers, this may herald the end of a better life far from home in Shenzhen - a top-tier metropolis that was essentially built on migrant labor.
The sprawling city of 12 million people has seen just 34 percent of its population granted permanent residence, or hukou, under the national household registration system. Those without hukou are usually migrants who left their homes in search of better prospects in southern China's Pearl River Delta - the country's traditional manufacturing heartland which offers all sorts of labor-intensive job opportunities.
