[News] Millions of China's workers lose jobs
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=736638
"Because of the economic downturn, about 20 million rural migrant
workers have either lost their jobs or have not yet found
employment and have gone home to the countryside," said Chen
Xiwen, a senior rural planning official.
"Indeed, quite a large share of the rural migrant workers have
lost their jobs," he told a briefing in Beijing on Monday.
The figure marks a huge increase from previous numbers released by
the government.
The National Bureau of Statistics last month indicated that the
number of migrant workers who lost their jobs due to the crisis
was about six million.
The plight of the migrant workers is monitored carefully by the
government, who are worried about the potential for social unrest.
Approximately 130 million rural dwellers in China have left their
homes to seek work in the cities, finding employment in the
labour-intensive industries that have supplied the world with
cheap consumer goods in recent years.
As the global crisis has plunged a number of China's traditional
export markets in Europe and North America into recession, large
numbers of workers have lost their jobs as their employers have
closed or halted production.
Chen said the 20 million figure was based on a recent agriculture
ministry survey carried out in 150 villages in 15 different
provinces.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 118.166.12.163