免费日韩片_欧美成人精品一区二区男人小说_国产乱码一区二区三区四区_国产精品国产三级国产aⅴ入口_成人看的污污超级黄网站免费_欧美一级在线免费观看_成人午夜免费无码福利片_国产乱人伦偷精品视频色欲_aaa少妇高潮大片免费看_国产精品1234_亚洲精品国产suv一区88_中文字字幕在线中文无码_精品亚洲区_午夜九九九_国产av国片精品jk制服丝袜_色综合亚洲_亚洲成av人片无码bt种子下载_欧美色就色_精品少妇的一区二区三区四区_男人用嘴添女人下身免费视频

National

Regional

Taiwan, HK, Macao

Special Coverage

Focus

Society

Profiles

Migrants' mass return tests rural officials

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-05 23:46

HEFEI -- Xiaobao Village head Yang Qiping has been much busier since the Lunar New Year holiday ended last month.    

Related readings:  Migrant rights 'not adequately protected'  Gome to employ 20,000 migrant workers  Skill training: A way to bail out migrant workers  Migrant workers feel the pinch amid crisis

The village, under Baogong Township of eastern Anhui Province, a major source of China's 130 million rural migrant workers, saw about 2,000 of its residents leave for factories along the coast in recent years.    

But the global economic downturn, which is hitting China, has cost more than 600 their jobs. Many returned home as usual for the Spring Festival, which fell on January 26 this year. But this year,  many stayed in Xiaobao.  

"Now that they're suddenly unemployed, many have come to the  village committee office for help. We're also seeing more gambling, stealing and fighting. It's a headache to me," sighed Yang.    

With the worsening crisis curbing China's economic growth, some 20 million migrant workers have gone home to rural unemployment  since fall, according to government estimates.    

The flood of returnees is testing China's grassroots rural  officials  who -- like the newly jobless they must help --  suddenly face unfamiliar challenges.

NEW WORK FOR LABOR OFFICES    

Labor departments used to be responsible for the urban  unemployed only, and their work with migrants mainly involved  training, insurance and pay disputes. But since the latter half of last year, helping returnees find new jobs has become a major part of their workload.    

Xu Shenghong is the only worker in the labor protection office of Baogong Township. "I'm now responsible for civil dispute settlement, medicare insurance, pensions, migrants' employment and statistics. It's beyond me," he complained.    

"The workload has doubled. We're in dire need of more staff,"  said Cui Meihua, deputy head of the labor protection bureau of  Anhui's Feidong County.  

 "For one thing, we're required to report on a daily basis the  number of returnees, which is in itself a very difficult job,"  said Cui.

LOSS OF INCOME, LAND    

The returnees' loss of income and ensuing problems are also  worrying rural administrators.  

In Fengzhuang Village, Dingtao County in eastern Shandong  Province, 40-year-old returnee Wang Jin and his wife were heaping  dried cotton.    

"Cotton prices are low, but fertilizer is very expensive. It's  nearly impossible to make money from farming. My children's  schooling costs me hundreds of yuan every month, but I have no income whatsoever. Life is hard," said Wang.    

Although they might not have the burdens of middle-aged  returnees, the younger ones face other problems. Most went into  the factories right after they finished junior or senior high school, so they don't have the farming skills that older returnees do. And after years in the city, many of them wouldn't even want to be farmers.    

"Their problems will affect their mental state. If not handled  properly, this might lead to social instability," Xu observed.    

Contradictions have also arisen from farmland transfers.  Believing he would work in cities for many years, former migrant  Zhu Liujiang in Sichuan Province leased his 5 mu (one mu equals  one-fifteenth of a hectare) of land to a neighbor to farm. Now he  wants it back, but he's having a dispute over the contract.

SOCIAL COSTS

The mass return has also increased local social spending. In Sichuan, another labor exporter, more than 20,000 children have returned home with their laid-off parents, the provincial labor department said. Finding a place for them in school has placed new pressure on local educational facilities.

The central and local governments are working to address the problems.

Premier Wen Jiabao promised in his government work report, delivered to legislators Thursday in Beijing, that the country would carry out an even more proactive employment policy this year. He said China would allocate 42 billion yuan ($6.14 billion) to offset unemployment caused by the global downturn.

"We will do everything in our power to stimulate employment," said Wen as he delivered the report at the opening of the National People's Congress (parliament) annual session, singling out university graduates and migrant workers as the top priorities.

Spending on agriculture, farmers and rural areas this year would total 716.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 120.6 billion yuan, he said.

Provinces are stepping up support for the jobless as well. Henan, for example, has a government-subsidized project that will retrain 2 million migrants. It will also offer loans of 1.5 billion yuan to some 100,000 businesses that are expected to employ about 1 million people.

Many provincial education authorities have also sought to ensure that returnees' children have proper schooling. They have allocated funds to expand and renovate rural schools.

SILVER LINING

Despite the downside of the migrants' return, Chang Kai, director at the School of Labor and Human Resources at Beijing-based Renmin University of China, saw the silver lining.

Chang said the migrants, with years of experience and modern industrial training, would bring home not only funds but also skills and concepts. "These are key attributes for starting businesses," Chang said.

In Xiaobao Village, four businesses have been started by the migrants by the end of last year, each employing dozens of other returnees .

"A job near my home is good, as I can also take care of my family at off hours," said newly-reemployed Shao Xiaohua. "It's even better than going afar to other places."