The central and western regions began to compete with the eastern regions for migrant workers, and the wage gap gradually narrowed

The increase in labor-intensive enterprises has led to an increase in labor demand

The Midwest begins to compete with the East for migrant workers

"If one day I am old and have no one to rely on, please leave me here in this spring." In the 2011 Spring Festival Gala, the migrant worker group "Xu Ri Yang Gang" left a deep impression on the national audience with a sincere and simple song "Spring". Their singing voices sang out the inner sorrow of contemporary migrant workers and their yearning for a better life. Today, migrant workers are no longer a strange word, and have been closely linked to urban life and China's economic changes.

According to the China Business News, reporters found during the Spring Festival that the "labor shortage" phenomenon that had attracted attention a few years ago was particularly prominent this year. What is more noteworthy is that as China's economic map quietly changes, the central and western regions have begun to compete fiercely with the eastern region for migrant workers.

The Midwest retains people with affection

Nearly 10 Foxconn Technology Group recruitment booths were set up in the human resources market in Jinjiang District, Chengdu. All the recruiters were security guards of the market, and each person had to complete three registration targets every day.

In Chongqing, many companies have been promoting through banners, flyers and on-site consultation at the North Railway Station, Caiyuanba Railway Station, Chenjiaping Long-distance Bus Station, Chaotianmen Long-distance Bus Station, etc., hoping that migrant workers who return home for the Spring Festival can stay in Chongqing to work after the Spring Festival this year. Some organizations have even sent letters of condolence, promising "new opportunities in Chongqing Xiyong, 100,000 good electronic jobs. There are not only plenty of jobs here, income guarantees, public rental housing, children's schooling and other policy environments, but also close care for the elderly and children, freeing them from the worries of family affection and the hustle and bustle of travel, and gaining a sense of belonging to home."

At the same time, "Spring Breeze Cards" printed with Wuhan recruitment information and job-seeking reminders were distributed to migrant workers waiting for trains in the square in front of Wuchang Railway Station. The card introduced that from February 9 to March 11, Wuhan will hold 117 free job fairs, with more than 8,000 companies providing 240,000 jobs. It is understood that about 70% of these jobs are local jobs in Wuhan, and more than 300 coastal companies have come to Wuhan to recruit people, providing nearly 80,000 jobs.

Actively recruiting players in the East

In contrast to the central and western regions actively trying to retain their fellow countrymen, eastern cities are also "eager to recruit talents" for migrant workers. Nearly 400 long-distance buses from Shanghai went to Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei and other places to pick up migrant workers at their "doorsteps". On both sides of Jinfeng Road in Suzhou High-tech Zone, where factories are concentrated, banners with various "year-round recruitment" messages were hung. Enthusiastic "station pick-ups" appeared at train stations and bus stations. "Izumi female workers aged 17-35, 100 yuan for 300 yuan back; Asahi Electric Co., Ltd. men and women aged 16-35 will not be accepted if men are not accepted, and 200 yuan back if women are not accepted; Kema No. 10 is recruiting and needs to reserve personnel. Please support us, bosses. Thank you!" A large number of such recruitment text messages are circulating on the mobile phones of various labor agencies. The reporter learned that due to the tight recruitment situation, the "business model" of labor intermediary companies has undergone a major reversal. The so-called "collection" in the text message refers to the fees that labor intermediary companies have to pay to recommend workers to other larger intermediary companies or manufacturers, and the labor intermediary companies then collect the fees from the workers; now, they have waived or reduced the fees, and even "paid for people", that is, "returned". The previous phenomenon of labor intermediaries "bribing" corporate human resources managers has also disappeared immediately.

Relevant personnel from Shipai Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, told reporters that the town government has organized enterprises to travel to Guangxi, Hunan and other places many times to open up channels for recruiting talents. Shipai Town has also established friendly county-town relations with Yunan, Renhua and other places. In Shaoguan, the local government collected and sorted out the information of vacancies in enterprises before the Spring Festival, printed the information of vacancies in local enterprises on cards, and distributed them in bus stations, railway stations, pedestrian streets, large supermarkets and other places where there are many crowds. At the same time, during the Spring Festival, it organized enterprises with labor shortages to go deep into towns, villages and other places where there are many migrant workers who leave and return home to hold special job fairs.

The wage gap is gradually narrowing

According to statistics, the current reserve of migrant workers has decreased by more than 6 million people each year compared with the previous peak, and has decreased by almost 20 million in three years (2011 "Xinhua Digest" Issue 2 "Causes, Responses and Prospects of Labor Market System Reform"). According to a survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2009, the monthly income of migrant workers in the eastern region was 1,455 yuan, 1,389 yuan in the central region, and 1,382 yuan in the western region. The eastern region is only 5% higher than the western region, while five years ago, the wages in the eastern region were 15% higher than those in the western region on average.

At the same time, as investment conditions in the central and western regions gradually improve, many labor-intensive enterprises have gradually moved to the central and western regions, which has significantly increased the demand for labor in the central and western regions. Take Chengdu and Chongqing as examples. The two cities attracted foreign investment of US$6.41 billion and US$6.3 billion respectively last year. These investment projects have a huge demand for labor. In March 2010, Guo Xiaoming, deputy director of the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, led a team to conduct a survey of Suining City and Jintang County, two of the most representative labor exporting areas in Sichuan. The results showed that at the end of 2009, the labor shortage of 21 enterprises in Suining City reached about 20%; as of March 5, 2010, the labor shortage of Suining Electronic Industrial Park had reached 30%, with a shortage of about 3,000 people. In 2010, Jintang County added 12,000 new jobs, and the pressure on employment was relatively large. Among them, the labor shortage of some shoemaking enterprises in Zhugao Town, Jintang County reached 30%.

Faced with job opportunities in their hometowns, how do migrant workers choose? Before the Spring Festival, the Human Resources Bureau of Gaobu Town, Dongguan City, conducted a sample questionnaire survey on employees returning to their hometowns or staying in Dongguan during the Spring Festival. The results showed that 2,104 employees from four companies were sampled, of which 34% stayed in Dongguan during the Spring Festival and 66% returned to their hometowns. Among the employees who returned to their hometowns, 84.76% planned to return to their original companies after the holiday; 4.37% planned to return to Dongguan to find another job; and 10.87% did not return to Dongguan. This result partially reflects that eastern cities are still the main areas for migrant workers to go out for employment, but in the future, it will be a trend worth observing.